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Once apparent title contenders, Manchester City and Chelsea meet Saturday knowing that a result could be critical in their respective quests simply to finish in the top four.

Chelsea (11-4-7, 40 points) enter the weekend holding that fourth position narrowly above City (11-6-5, 38 points) and others, after a rough patch that has gone somewhat overshadowed by the Cityzens’ recent struggles.

The Blues’ 3-1 win at Wolverhampton on Monday halted a five-match winless league run. Chelsea only scored twice in the first four games of that barren spell.

And yet first-year Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was questioned more this week about whether it was City’s form that made for a good moment to face the four-time defending league champions.

“No. I don’t believe in these kinds of things,” Maresca said. “It is probably on the other side; I think this kind of club, with this kind of players, when they are in a difficult moment, it’s when they want to show how good they are.”

The most promising sign from the Wolves win may have been that it came without a goal or assist from Cole Palmer, who is working his way through an ankle injury but expected to play Saturday.

The 22-year-old has 14 goals and six assists, good for 20 involvements of Chelsea’s 44 league goals. But it was Tosin Adarabioyo, Marc Cucurella and Noni Madueke who scored Monday.

Fifth-place City are unbeaten in their last five league matches, including last weekend’s 6-0 thrashing of Ipswich Town at Portman Road.

But their continental struggles continued Wednesday night with a 4-2 loss at Paris Saint-Germain that dropped City down to 25th in the UEFA Champions League table, one spot out of the knockout places.

With the Cityzens also currently just outside of next year’s Champions League, that brings an urgency to both Saturday’s Chelsea clash and Wednesday’s home UCL tilt vs. Club Brugge.

“They’re close in the table even with the big problems we’ve had in the past, recent past,” City boss Pep Guardiola said of Chelsea. “This week is really important and the next two games are finals for us. With our people, they’re going to support us to do the good performance to take the results that we need.”

Winter transfer window signings Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis could all potentially make their debuts for City on Saturday, with Marmoush potentially the most likely because he arrived slightly earlier.

–Field Level Media