On Wednesday night, Man City gave their blood and sweat for 120 minutes but eventually Real Madrid knocked them out of the Champions League in the penalty shootout. This exit would have hurt all the Manchester City players and their manager but they will have no time to sit back and grieve because, on Saturday, they take on Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final.
Chelsea have been a mess this season under Pochettino but they have wind in their sails after some fine performances in recent weeks. Man City are undefeated in their previous eight meetings against the Blues and despite their European mishap, they will once again be the favourites to progress to the final.
However, Pep Guardiola will have to be very careful with his team selection because most of his important players played 120 excruciating minutes against Madrid on Wednesday. The players will get only two full days to recharge and rest themselves and if Pep is not careful, many of his important players can pick up knocks and injuries at Wembley.
Man City are undefeated in their last 28 matches but quite surprisingly they have not been able to beat Chelsea in the Premier League this season. At Stamford Bridge in November, the score ended 4-4 and then in February, Chelsea managed to hold City to a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium.
Manchester City’s team news and injuries:
Pep Guardiola will have a fully fit squad for the FA Cup semi-final but several players are on the brink of picking up injuries.
The likes of Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne could not complete the full 120 minutes and after the match, Guardiola revealed that the pair had asked to be taken off because they could not carry on.
KDB has already missed several weeks of action this season due to an injury and the last thing his manager will want is to lose him during the busy end of the season. Ideally, Guardiola should rest De Bruyne but we think the manager will select him at Wembley because, without him, Man City have looked toothless in attack.
Haaland, however, could start on the bench against Chelsea because he was completely useless in both legs vs Real Madrid and Pep has the ideal backup in the form of Julian Alvarez.
The manager cannot afford to make too many changes to his starting line up that played on Wednesday night. He will shift to a back-four vs Chelsea which should see John Stones come into central defence to partner Ruben Dias.
Gvardiol played at left-back in midweek but Nathan Ake is going to replace him on Saturday.
Foden and Bernardo Silva will hold onto their spots but Jack Grealish will most likely start on the bench. The England international performed decently for the 72 minutes he was on the pitch against Madrid but Jeremy Doku made a far greater impact since coming on.
Man City predicted line up vs Chelsea:
Predicted Starting line up(4-1-4-1): Ederson; Ruben Dias, Stones, Walker, Ake/Gvardiol; Rodri; Foden, Silva, De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku; Haaland/Alvarez.
