CHELSEA take on Manchester City this evening in a huge FA Cup semi-final, both sides’ second successive last-four clash at Wembley in the competition.
The Blues beat Sheffield United in the quarter-finals while City overcame Everton at Goodison Park.
- Start time: 5.30pm GMT
- TV/Live stream: BBC One/iPlayer
- Chelsea XI: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Rudiger, James, Jorginho, Kante, Chilwell, Ziyech, Werner, Mount
- Man City XI: Steffen, Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Mendy, Rodrigo, Fernandinho (C), De Bruyne, Torres, Sterling, Jesus
Follow ALL the action with our live blog below…
TUCH AND GO
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has a lot to prove today as he is facing a manager he has never been able to beat.
Tuchel has faced Guardiola a total of five times throughout his coaching career and lost four of those meetings.
All four of those victories took place while the Manchester City manager was in charge of Bayern Munich.
The Spaniard beat Tuchel twice when he was at the helm of Mainz in the 2013-2014 season and prevailed again in their next two meetings when the German replaced Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund in the 2015-2016 season – they also had a goalless draw in between.
This will be the first time the two men face off while in charge of an English team
GETTY IMAGES LAST DANCE
Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero has confirmed that he will be leaving the club in the summer after his contract expires.
Aguero won’t play any part at Wembley today due to a muscle injury and that makes for quite an absence as the star striker has enjoyed a dominant past against Chelsea.
The Argentina international has scored a staggering 15 goals in 21 matches against the Blues across all competitions ever since 2011 when he moved to Manchester from Atletico Madrid.
The 32-year-old has also produced three assists, meaning he has been part of a whopping 18 goals against the west Londoners
GETTY IMAGES LOOKING FOUR-WARD
Manchester City are still alive for an unpresented quadruple title this season.
City are 11 points clear at the top of the table, have made the semi-finals of the FA Cup as well as the Champions League and are also set to take on Tottenham at the Carabao Cup final on April 25.
If the Citizens manage to win all of the aforementioned titles then they will become the first ever team to complete such a triumph.
But if Chelsea beat Pep Guardiola’s men today then that will officially mark the end of their quadruple hopes once more
GETTY IMAGES
MAN CITY FORMATION
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola appears to have opted for a 4-3-3 formation with eight changes to the team that beat Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday in Germany.
Zack Steffen takes Ederson’s place in goal for yet another FA Cup match.
Joao Cancelo, who takes Kyle Walker’s place, starts at right-back with Benjamin Mendy, on for Oleksandr Zinchenko, playing on the other side, while Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte, who comes on for John Stones, team up in defence.
Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and captain Fernandinho, who takes Bernardo Silva’s place, link up in midfield.
Raheem Sterling, Ferran Torres and Gabriel Jesus lead the attack as they replace Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden respectively
CHELSEA FORMATION
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel appears to have opted for a 3-4-3 formation with three changes to the team that lost to Porto on Tuesday in Seville.
Kepa Arrizabala takes Edouard Mendy’s place between the sticks.
Thiago Silva, Antonio Rudiger and captain Cesar Azpilicueta link up in defence.
Reece James plays at right wing-back with Ben Chilwell on the other side while Jorginho and N’Golo Kante team up in midfield.
Mason Mount, Hakim Ziyech, who replaces Christian Pulisic, and Timo Werner, tho takes Kai Havertz’s place, lead the attack
MAN CITY SUBS
Ederson, Walker, Stones, Ake, Gundogan, Zinchenko, Bernardo, Mahrez, Foden
CHELSEA SUBS
Caballero, Alonso, Emerson, Zouma, Gilmour, Havertz, Hudson-Odoi, Pulisic, Giroud
MAN CITY XI
13 Steffen; 27 Cancelo, 3 Dias, 14 Laporte, 22 Mendy; 16 Rodri, 25 Fernandinho, 17 De Bruyne; 21 Torres, 7 Sterling, 9 Jesus
CHELSEA XI
1 Kepa; 28 Azpilicueta, 6 Silva, 2 Rudiger; 24 James, 5 Jorginho, 7 Kante, 21 Chilwell; 22 Ziyech, 19 Mount, 11 Werner
THE TEAM SHEETS ARE IN!!!
CITY STATS
Manchester City made it to the FA Cup semi-finals by eliminating Birmingham, Cheltenham Town, Swansea and Everton along the way.
City won all of their matches and scored a whopping 11 goals, while conceding a mere two in the process.
The Citizens have enjoyed tremendous success in the FA Cup semi-finals as they have prevailed in nine of their last 11 appearances in the final four.
But the last time the Manchester giants made it to Wembley they lost 2-0 to Arsenal last year
GETTY IMAGES CHELSEA STATS
Chelsea made it to the FA Cup semi-finals by eliminating Morecambe, Luton Town, Barnsley and Sheffield United along the way.
The Blues won all four games by scoring a total of 10 goals and conceding a mere one throughout the entire competition this season.
The west Londoners are looking to win their ninth FA Cup but will have to beat a team they have only been able to defeat twice in their last nine meetings across all competitions.
Thomas Tuchel’s men might still be feeling confident as they have won seven of their last eight FA Cup semi-final matches at Wembley Stadium
GETTY IMAGES HEAD TO HEAD
Chelsea and Manchester City’s first ever encounter took place way back in 1907 in a First Division match that ended 2-2 in London.
Since then, the two sides have faced off a total of 164 times with the Blues amassing a mere majority of 66 wins compared to City’s 58 victories.
But they’ve only faced off six times in the FA Cup, which saw the Citizens winning four of the exchange and only losing twice.
However, their most recent meeting in the competition took place in 2016 when Chelsea thrashed a below-strength City team with a score of 5-1.
This is going to be only the second time they battle at Wembley Stadium with their inaugural encounter taking place in the semi-finals of the 2012-2013 season when the Manchester giants won 2-1 thanks to goals by Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero
GOOD AFTERNOON FROM WEMBLEY
Welcome to our live coverage of the FA Cup semi-final clash between Chelsea and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium.
Both teams made it through to the Champions League semi-finals earlier this week when the Blues eliminated Porto and City offloaded Borussia Dortmund.
Now the two Premier League sides, who could also face off in the Champions League final, are looking to make it to the FA Cup final where they will face either Leicester or Southampton.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel confirmed that Mateo Kovacic is sidelined due to a hamstring injury he suffered during training.
Tuchel will also be without Andreas Christensen, who missed the midweek Champions League clash with Porto, due to a muscle injury.
City boss Pep Guardiola will be without club legend Sergio Aguero, who has announced he will be leaving the Citizens at the end of the season after 10 years of remarkable service.
Aguero has been dealing with a muscular problem that will not allow him to compete at Wembley tonight against Chelsea.
However, Guardiola could have Aymeric Laporte back into his starting line-up after the star defender overcame a hip problem.
Stay tuned as we expect the starting line-ups from both squads in about half an hour
GETTY IMAGES
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
