Sven-Göran Eriksson’s brief but exhilarating ride as Manchester City manager has taken in some tantalising sights, from an eagerly awaited encounter with Sir Alex Ferguson, his arch nemesis, to a meeting with that other footballing professor, Arsène Wenger, but it is today’s journey to Stamford Bridge that promises to be the most interesting so far.

A great deal has happened since Eriksson’s first flirtation with Chelsea in July 2003, when his meeting with Roman Abramovich, the London club’s owner, while still England head coach, caused a storm of controversy.

But while any discussion of Chelsea beyond their players and new first-team coach was strictly off limits yesterday – presumably to be saved for a future autobiography – it is doubtful whether the Swede would have had more fun in charge at Stamford Bridge than he is having at City.

It is for others to speculate how Chelsea might have turned out had Eriksson, and not José Mourinho, been given the task of succeeding Claudio Ranieri. But, flush with cash to splash courtesy of the deep pockets of a wealthy foreign owner, the job Eriksson faces trying to bring sustained success to one of the fallen giants of English football is not overly different from the task Mourinho was saddled with when he took over the reins in West London only a few months after the Swede’s second dalliance with Chelsea in March 2004.

Like Mourinho, though, Eriksson has wasted no time in making his intentions clear, even if the manner in which the two approached their respective jobs could not have been more different.

If someone had said then that, a few years down the line, Eriksson would be manager of City and Chelsea would have appointed a largely unknown Israeli called Avram Grant, the hilarity generated would be akin to some of the Manchester club’s football last season, but no one is laughing at Eriksson, or City, any more.

With Arsenal not in action until tomorrow, City will go level on points with the Barclays Premier League leaders – and eight clear of Chelsea - should they become the first team to win at Stamford Bridge in the league for 3½ years, and Manchester United draw or lose at home against Middlesbrough.

City have not beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the league since their first Premier League fixture there, in January 1993, but such statistics will mean nothing to a man who has revelled in upsetting the odds.

Playing down expectations has been virtually impossible such is the feel-good factor among City supporters, but while Eriksson intimated yesterday that people will be able to make a better assessment of his club’s fortunes once the hectic Christmas period is over, he was man enough to admit that victory over Chelsea would prove another shot in the arm.

“It would be very good to get a positive result and of course every time you have a good result the confidence of the players gets better and better,” Eriksson said. “We know perfectly well that it is going to be very difficult, everybody knows that, but we will make life difficult for Chelsea.”

In the past, City may have opted to put the accent on defence and hope for the best, but Eriksson will not succumb to such methods and, with Elano and Martin Petrov in his team, concedes that Grant may be as worried about his players as City, traditionally, might have been about Chelsea’s.

“We are not going to go there and put 11 men in front of our goal,” Eriksson said. “Maybe they will keep the ball so well we can’t win, but our mind is not to go there to defend.”

Playing attractive, winning football, of course, is what Abramovich craves above all else. Eriksson, though, is out to show once again why Chelsea’s loss is City’s gain.