Played for both: 10 Premier League names at Chelsea and Man City

As the first key clash of the 2015/16 Premier League season between Manchester City and Chelsea at the Etihad is coming up, Coral’s football writers look at which stars have turned out for both clubs in recent years.

We discovered 10 men that have played for the English giants in the Premier League era. Read on, and take a trip down memory lane with us.

Nicolas Anelka

Of the six Premier League sides former France forward Anelka played for, he stayed the longest at these two. The man nicknamed ‘Le Sulk’ by the tabloids spent two-and-a-half seasons with Man City (2002-05) and was their main man up front with 37 goals in 89 outings.

Via Fenerbahce and Bolton Wanderers in between, Anelka then had four years with Chelsea (2008-12) where he won the English top flight’s Golden Boot in 2008/09, and recorded a Premier League and FA Cup double the following season.

Tal Ben Haim
Israel international defender Ben Haim, best known from his days at Bolton, was briefly on the books of both Blues. After falling out with Avram Grant (though they patched things up when working together at West Ham United), he jumped ship to City, but ended up being farmed out on loan to Sunderland.

Across Chelsea and the Etihad, Ben Haim played just 22 Premier League matches and is now on the books at Charlton Athletic. He also counts Portsmouth and QPR among his former club.

Wayne Bridge
Ex-England left back Bridge found himself upstaged at both Stamford Bridge (2003-09) and Eastlands (2009-13), as the Etihad when then colloquially referred to, by ex-Arsenal pair Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy respectively. Nonetheless, he made a total of 200 appearances across all competitions for both Blues.

Frank Lampard

The most recent star to have played for both clubs, England centurion Lampard made the controversial switch from Chelsea (2001-2014), where he was an icon and top scorer, to City for last season. Jose Mourinho soon regretted letting him go, as the midfield great netted an equaliser against the Blues, but the Portuguese did eventually have the last laugh as he guided them to the league title.

Lampard, 37, who started his career with West Ham United, is now turning out for MLS outfit New York FC alongside other legends of the game Andrea Pirlo and David Villa.

Terry Phelan
Another left back on the list, former Republic of Ireland international Phelan, a member of their USA ’94 World Cup squad, turned out at City’s old ground Maine Road first (1992-95) where he was a regular, but then switched to Chelsea (1995-97) where he was a fringe player. He is best remembered, though, for being part of Wimbledon’s ‘Crazy Gang’ FA Cup winners in 1988.

David Rocastle

After a lengthy career at Arsenal, via a season at Leeds United, midfielder Rocastle came to Man City for 1993/94 campaign and then joined Chelsea, who are 3/1 for an away win over City and 9/4 to win the title. Capped 14 times for England, he lost his battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2001 aged just 33.

Scott Sinclair
Winger Sinclair joined Aston Villa this summer after being on loan with them last term, but was quickly snapped up by Chelsea when he was a teenager from Bristol Rovers after just senior games.

Cynics will say City only had him on their books to fill homegrown quotas, with his best football played at Swansea City where his hat-trick earned them Premier League promotion in the 2011 Championship play-off final.

Daniel Sturridge
Having played youth football around the West Midlands, current Liverpool striker Sturridge joined City aged 13 and came through their ranks. Paired in attack with Robinho in 2008/09, he saw Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tevez all arrive at Eastlands the following summer, so switched to Chelsea on a free transfer.

Sturridge suffered from slipping down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge too, though. With Nicolas Anelka, Demba Ba, Didier Drogba and £50m flop Fernando Torres all in front of him for selection at one time or another, he joined the Reds in January 2013.

George Weah

Liberia legend Weah played a similarly short number of games across brief spells at Chelsea and City in 2000, but is remembered fondly in both London and Manchester. Signed by Arsene Wenger when he was in charge of Monaco, his stints with PSG and AC Milan were also career highlights. If only this cult hero had spent more time in the Premier League!

Shaun Wright-Phillips
Winger Wright-Phillips, who is also now out in the MLS at New York Red Bulls with brother Bradley, played a total of one game shy of 400 for both Blues across all competitions. Sold by City for a reported £21m in the summer of 2005, they purchased him back from Chelsea three years later for a mere £8.5m.

At the Bridge, SWP struggled to displace the likes of Joe Cole, Damien Duff and Arjen Robben from the wide berths. City are 13/8 title chances and 19/20 odds-on favourites for a home win.