Home of football statistics and historyChelsea and Manchester City are preparing to lock horns in their first-ever FA Cup final meeting at Wembley Stadium on May 16.
These two sides will hope to get their hands on the coveted trophy for different reasons.
For Chelsea, this is a chance to end a miserable campaign on a high, as clinching silverware could lift the mood around the club heading into an all-important summer.
It could also be their final shot at securing European football next season, with the Blues currently on course to miss out on a place in Europe altogether.
Meanwhile, City are still fairly confident of ending the season with a domestic treble, having already secured the EFL Cup title against Arsenal.
However, with the Premier League title slipping away, winning their eighth FA Cup title will be a decent consolation for Pep Guardiola’s trophy-gobbling troops.
Match Preview
Chelsea have steamrolled their way to Wembley, arriving on the back of a five-match winning streak in the FA Cup, although they’ve hardly had any serious resistance en route to the final.
They eliminated Charlton Athletic, Hull City, Wrexham, Port Vale, and Leeds United to reach the final.
They’ll now be keen to add to their eight FA Cup titles and secure the highly coveted crown for the first time since 2018, when they beat Manchester United 1-0.
However, whatever hopes they have of clinching silverware to salvage a miserable campaign hinge on getting past City – and they’ve already failed twice this season.
Chelsea are winless in their last 13 games against Guardiola’s side, a run that stretches back to the 2021 Champions League final in Porto.
This is their longest winless streak against any opponent in over two decades, which highlights the scale of the task facing McFarlane’s troops at Wembley.
As if being underdogs isn’t enough, Chelsea also have to deal with a City side that hasn’t tasted defeat since they were eliminated from the Champions League by Real Madrid.
The Cityzens have only failed to win one of their last eight games in all competitions (W7, D1), with the draw against Everton ruining an otherwise spotless winning streak.
Guardiola’s side have already lifted silverware this season, beating Arsenal 2-0 to lift the EFL Cup at Wembley.
With a potential treble in sight, it may take a miracle for Chelsea to end their eight-year drought and come away from Wembley with their ninth FA Cup title.
Head to Head
This will be the third time these two sides are going head-to-head this season, with Chelsea failing to get the better of their Manchester rivals in each of the previous two meetings (D1, L1).
Interestingly, those two fixtures came under two different managers.
Interim manager Callum McFarlane was at the helm for the first meeting, stepping in to replace Enzo Maresca, whose premature Chelsea exit sent the club tumbling down the Premier League table.
However, McFarlane did well to avoid defeat at the Etihad Stadium, with a last-minute goal from Enzo Fernandez cancelling out Tijjani Reijnders’ first-half strike.
McFarlane was soon replaced by Liam Rosenior, whose side succumbed to a thumping 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge, with Jeremy Doku, Marc Guehi, and Nico O’Reilly on target.
That was part of an abysmal five-match losing streak that ultimately cost the Englishman his job, with McFarlane reinstalled as interim head coach until the end of the season.
This will be the first time Chelsea and Man City are facing off in the FA Cup final, but these two are no strangers to going head-to-head with silverware on the line.
They were at it in the 2019 EFL Cup final, where City came out on top on penalties after both sides failed to find the back of the net in 120 minutes.
Chelsea had their vengeance on a much bigger stage, with Kai Havertz netting the only goal in a 1-0 win over City in the 2021 Champions League final in Porto.
Team News
Both sides will hope to arrive at the final without any fresh injury concerns, although City are currently missing Abdukodir Khusanov at the heart of the defence.
Josko Gvardiol and Rodri are the other fitness concerns on City’s injury record, but there’s a decent chance at least one of them could be fit to feature at Wembley.
Meanwhile, Chelsea can’t seem to catch a break on the injury front.
The Blues were forced to bring in Jesse Derry from the academy to cover for their attacking crisis, but the talented teenager had to be stretchered off with a head injury against Nottingham Forest.
It remains to be seen if he’ll feature again this season, joining Robert Sanchez, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho, Jamie Gittens, and Estevao on the sidelines.
Chelsea potential starting line-up:
(4-2-3-1): Filip Jorgensen; Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah, Levi Colwill, Jorrel Hato; Moises Caicedo, Andrey Santos; Marc Cucurella, Enzo Fernandez, Cole Palmer; Joao Pedro.
Manchester City potential starting line-up:
(4-2-3-1): Gianluigi Donnarumma; Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov, Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly; Nico Gonzalez, Bernardo Silva; Antoine Semenyo, Rayan Cherki, Jeremy Doku; Erling Haaland
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