MANCHESTER CITY take on Chelsea in the semi-final of the FA Cup TODAY.
And the headline team news from Wembley is that Erling Haaland is NOT in the City squad.
Pep Guardiola’s side can no longer match last season’s Treble following their Champions League exit to Real Madrid on Wednesday night.
City will still be eyeing a Double this campaign with the Manchester outfit in Pole position for the Premier League title and two wins away from back-to-back FA Cup triumphs.
Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping his side can salvage Chelsea’s season after failing to find consistency in their performances.
- Kick-off time: 5.15pm BST
- TV channel/ FREE live stream: BBC One/BBC iPlayer
- Man City starting line-up: Ortega Moreno, Walker, Stones, Akanji, Ake, Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Foden, Grealish, Alvarez
- Chelsea starting line-up: Petrovic; Gusto, Chalobah, Silva, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Madueke, Palmer, Gallagher; Jackson
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Follow ALL of the latest updates from Wembley below…
How do we see it?
Other options
They’re not really short of options when it comes to goals, anyway.
Phil Foden the standout player this season and those goal numbers certainly suggest that.
Julian Alvarez gets his turn from the start here and there’s goals in their midfield too.
Haaland mystery
“He has a little injury. It’s not serious but he couldn’t play today.”
That was the update from Pep Guardiola before this one.
Latest odds
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are favourites to win this tie in normal time.
There will be plenty taking the value in Chelsea, just shy of 5/1….
BetMGM latest odds:
- Man City 8/15
- Draw 33/10
- Chelsea 24/5
Setting the scene
The fans are piling into Wembley and the atmosphere is already building terrifically.
A little under half an hour until kick off as the players are put through their paces in the warm-up ahead of kick-off.
Man in the middle
The FA’s best referee, Michael Oliver takes charge of this one.
The 39-year-old has refereed 30 games far this season, showing 121 yellow cards and five red cards.
David Coote is on VAR. Hopefully we don’t hear much from VAR tonight, though….
Our picks
We’ve had a go at picking out a PickYourPunt selection with Betfred for this game.
As well as that, the bookmaker is offering £50 in free bets to new customers too!
Our PickYourPunt is a cool 28/1 and we’ve given reasons why for each pick too.
Numbers to back it
And the numbers back up what Pep Guardiola has said.
Palmer’s four goals earlier this week taking him to 20 in the league this season – joint with former team-mate Erling Haaland. And in less shots, too.
As well as the goals, he’s contributed 9 assists to Haaland’s five, with more than 3x the touches and passes of the Norwegian.
Cole reality
Pep Guardiola admits Cole Palmer has been the “decisive player of the season” after being forced to sell him to Chelsea.
But the Manchester City boss insists the England midfielder asked to leave the Etihad for TWO YEARS before he finally got his £40million move to Stamford Bridge last summer.
And Guardiola confessed: “He said he wanted to leave. What could we do? He was asking for two seasons to leave and I said, ‘No, stay’.
“I also said in pre-season he should stay because Riyad Mahrez had gone, but he said, ‘No, I want to leave’.
“So after two seasons what could I say?
“Playing at his current level is exceptional. He is an incredible threat. Everyone knows it.”
So far this season
These two have met twice already in the Premier League this season.
And both games finished all square.
A sensational game at Stamford Bridge ended 4-4 when Cole Palmer scored a late, late penalty.
While Rodri bagged an 83rd minute equaliser when the sides met at the Etihad in February.
Poch preview
Mauricio Pochettino isn’t expecting a wounded animal when City face his Chelsea side this evening.
He said: “From our point of view, we are going to compete against Manchester City. If you ask me about their situation, I can give my opinion, but we are not talking about that. We are going to compete against them.
“Today we were preparing, doing meetings, about the Manchester City that played against Real Madrid, that played against us in the Premier League.
“We are not talking about playing one or playing another. For me, the strength of Manchester City is that they keep the same idea and the same philosophy.”
Substitutes
Man City: Ederson, Dias, Kovacic, Doku, Gomez, Gvardiol, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis
CHELSEA: Bettinelli, Badiashile, Disasi, Gilchrist, Chilwell, Chukwuemeka, Mudryk, Sterling, Washington
Chelsea team news
No major surprises as Mauricio Pochettino names his Chelsea team for the semi final.
Enzo Fernandez takes his place beside Moises Caicedo in the Blues midfield.
CHELSEA XI: Petrovic, Guston, Chalobah, Silva, Cucurella, Caicedo, Enzo, Gallagher, Madueke, Palmer, Jackson
Man City team news
Pep Guardiola names his team for this afternoon’s semi final.
Kyle Walker captains the side and is included despite playing in midweek on return from injury.
MAN CITY XI: Ortega, Walker, Stones, Akanji, Ake, Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Foden, Grealish, Alvarez
Team news is in!
And the reports were right – there’s NO Erling Haaland!
Blues here
The Chelsea squad arrived a while ago and have walked the Wembley pitch in preparation ahead of warm-ups.
The squad making time to say hello to each kid, buzzing to meet their heroes on their big day.
Kick off time
It’s a 5.15pm kick off at Wembley tonight.
And we’ll go the distance tonight, should we need it.
And if we get half the drama of the Scottish Cup semi final earlier, we’re in for a treat.
Celtic drew 3-3 with Aberdeen, with ex-City stopper JOE HART missing a penalty in the shootout to win it for the Hoops.
Before being the hero in a 6-5 shootout win.
Bounce back
Pep Guardiola has called on his City stars to forget the heartbreak of midweek and react this afternoon.
He said: “We don’t have another option and don’t want to feel sorry for ourselves.
“We performed at our best but were not able to win against Madrid.
“What next? We don’t have time to reflect. We reflect in the summertime. Football, you compete to win but most of the time you lose games.”
Cityzens arriving
Here is the City team who arrived a short time ago, with Kevin de Bruyne involved.
The players took time to shake the hands with the mascot youngsters who gathered inside Wembley.
Team news will be on the way shortly.
Early team News
And it’s big team news. Reports claim there is no Erling Haaland in the Manchester City squad this afternoon in a massive blow to the Sky Blues.
Kevin de Bruyne is fit to be involved and is here with the City team. Whether he’s fit enough to start remains to be seen.
Chelsea should have Raheem Sterling, Enzo Fernandez and Axel Disasi back in their side having missed the game on Monday.
Semi Saturday
Good afternoon and welcome to a huge afternoon in the English football calendar with the first of the FA Cup semi finals this weekend.
And it’s a belter too with Manchester City and Chelsea doing battle for a spot in the showpiece event at the end of the season.
City will still be reeling from being dumped out of the Champions League in midweek and need a reaction here.
While Chelsea come here in their best form of the season, highlighted by the SIX goals scored in that demolition of Everton on Monday night.
It’s poised to be a great occasion.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
