Kante Chelsea
Fikayo Tomori, Kante & Wijnaldum Liverpool vs Chelsea

Chelsea beat Porto in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and now they will have the chance to reach the final of the FA Cup if they can overcome the Manchester City test this weekend.

The Blues won the two-legged tie against Porto 2-1 and despite suffering a loss in the second leg this week, the away goals made sure Chelsea went through without going into extra time.

This is just the second defeat that Chelsea have suffered in their last 19 games across all competitions which is why Thomas Tuchel thinks there can’t be a better time for them to face Man City.

‘We are in a good moment,’ he said in his press conference. ‘We had a set-back in the home game with the red card and the loss against West Brom but we had an excellent response.

‘We had a very tough challenge that we had to face. We had two very good and intensive matches and a big challenge against Porto, with a lot of pressure, with different situations. We arrived in the first leg when everything was open, we arrived in the second leg, we are suddenly the favourites, we have to manage the game, we have to manage the result, we have to manage a lot of influences from outside.

‘I was very proud of how we did this, we did absolutely what needed to be done, we deserved a clean sheet and we deserved to win. We conceded a late goal but this did not affect us.

 

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‘It’s a good moment now to play City and Pep. They are for me, along with Bayern Munich, the benchmark in Europe. If we manage to beat them it will be a huge boost. If not, we’ll have to accept it and take it as a challenge and an opportunity to grow, because we have some fights coming up. It’s not only about the FA Cup here, it’s about the top-four race, it’s about the Champions League too.

‘It’s the right moment for us to face a challenge like this. I hope we catch the moments where we can make them suffer. Then, from day one of next season, we will hunt them and try to close the gap between us. This is the benchmark for me.’

Yes, Chelsea have really improved under their new manager but the reality if that Man City are also playing some of their best football right now.

City beat Dortmund in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and they themselves have suffered only two losses across all competitions since the final week of November 2020.

Chelsea have been stellar in defence ever since Thomas Tuchel took charge at the club but they have found it rather difficult to score goals. And this exact trait could help set the tempo of Saturday’s game.

Man City will look to be on the front foot from the very first minute and we have a feeling Tuchel might just look to park the bus. This could turn out to be a really sensible ploy but with the kind of firepower that Man City have at their disposal, we can’t bet against them not finding the back of the net.

Read: 4-3-3 Man City’s predicted XI vs Chelsea – FA Cup.

Read: How Chelsea could line up vs MCFC at Wembley.

Read: Is this Chelsea-linked player on his way to Man United in the summer?