Manchester City vs Chelsea Preview

Chelsea will travel to the Etihad Stadium this Sunday to face Manchester City in the third round of the FA Cup.

Both teams are meeting for the second time in three days after they met in the Premier League last Thursday at Stamford Bridge. That game ended 1-0 in favour of City despite Chelsea seeing more of the ball in the first half.

A goal by Riyad Mahrez was the difference in that game extending City’s unbeaten run since the restart to four games (W3, D1). That win also means Pep Guardiola’s side have won the last four head-to-head meetings between both sides without conceding a goal- the first team to manage that against Chelsea since Bolton Wanderers in 1960 and so they will come into this game feeling confident.

Other reasons the Cityzens might feel confident of edging Chelsea here is that they have not suffered a first third round exit since 2011/12 (L 3-2 v Manchester United. They have also not lost an FA Cup match at home since January 2015 and have lost just one of their last 23 competitive home fixtures (W19, D3).

Meanwhile, Chelsea will look to make amends in this game having lost to City despite what they might consider a strong showing at Stamford Bridge last time.

The Blues have unfinished business in this competition too after losing last season’s final to Liverpool and becoming the first side to finish as runners-up in three consecutive occasions.

They have a decent recent record in this competition and haven’t fallen at this stage since 1997/98. More encouragingly, they beat Man City 1-0 in the semi-final two seasons ago and will fancy their chances of being second time lucky against the hosts.

However, injuries to at least ten of their first team players has left Graham Potter in a difficult place. The former Brighton manager will have to find a way round this fixture without a lot of his major players. But he will at least have new signing Benoît Badiashile to call upon.