Chelsea vs Manchester City
The FA Cup fifth round draw provided two huge ties as the top four Premier League teams will face off with Manchester City to host Chelsea and Arsenal drawn at home to Liverpool. Please note midweek Premier League matches were yet to be played at the time of writing.
A trip to the Etihad Stadium now awaits Jose Mourinho, who won the FA Cup in 2007 during his first spell at Chelsea. Chelsea struck a huge blow in the title race with a highly energetic, composed performance in beating Manchester City 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium last Monday. Branislav Ivanovic’s crisply struck shot in the first half proved to be the difference between the two sides on the scoresheet, but Chelsea ultimately deserved the victory due to being vastly superior to their opponents all over the pitch, as City’s run of 11 straight Premier League victories at home was brought to a shuddering halt. City were left to rue a disappointing night, one that they’ll be keen to move on from on Saturday.
Manchester City’s sudden goal drought continued on Saturday with the visitors squandering a chance to move top of the Premier League after a 0-0 draw at Norwich. The Citizens had scored 68 goals from 23 league matches before losing to Chelsea and were again struggling at Carrow Road against lowly Norwich. Man City are third with 54 points, two behind league leaders Chelsea. City simply do not look as threatening or as confident in the last third of the pitch without Sergio Aguero.
With the striker out injured it seems Eden Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic have failed to come to the party when Alvaro Negredo goes missing. Another player who was missing from the first ‘El Cashico’ was holding midfielder Fernandino. Pelegrini has tried Martin Demichelis in that position but the Argentine has failed to fill the Brazilian’s shoes and City will need to find another plan to solve their midfield issues. Pellegrini’s side have lost just twice at home this season, to European champions Bayern Munich and to Chelsea, besides that they have been almost perfect. In the league they have played 12 home games winning 11 times managing 42 goals while conceding just nine. City had to come from behind to beat Watford 4-2 at home in the fourth round.
Chelsea received scant reward for their 1-0 victory over Stoke City in the fourth round however, Mourinho will relish another chance to outwit a manager he regularly clashed with when he was Real Madrid manager and Pellegrini was at Malaga. The away side were excellent and fully deserved both their win and their huge blow struck in the title race. Right from the start, the Blues midfield choked the life out of a home side which had been so obviously dominant on their own patch this season, Chelsea simply making the most of the fact that there were more of them in the middle third than there were City players, who suffered for the fact that they left two forwards up the pitch.
Eden Hazard struck a hat-trick in Saturday’s 3-0 defeat of Newcastle which saw Chelsea go top of the Premier League. The goals took Hazard’s season’s tally to 14, including 12 in the top-flight, and he has impressed even when not scoring, including in Chelsea’s crucial win at Manchester City. In Hazard, Jose Mourinho has the ideal weapon through the middle, and on this showing, the 23-year-old could be amongst the end-of-season awards in a few months time. Chelsea come into this match unbeaten in their last 10 matches, winning eight of those. In Chelsea’s last seven matches, the Blues have only conceded one goal, with Manchester United scoring a consolation goal when the two sides met.
Chelsea will look to remain solid in this match by giving another committed defensive display and look to expose City on the counter. However, with the likes of Yaya Toure and Alvaro Negredo keen on getting City onto the scoresheet this time, City should poke at least one goal. It should be a tight affair and a score draw is tipped.
