Man City vs Chelsea: More than a dress rehearsal for the big night 🎭 | OneFootball

And then there were two.

Having seen off Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid respectively in mid-week, Manchester City and Chelsea will contest an all-English Champions League final in Istanbul at the end of the month.

Two of England’s wealthiest clubs and arguably the two most in-form teams in Europe in a titanic final full of sub-plots. Pep Guardiola vs Thomas Tuchel. Phil Foden vs Mason Mount. Kevin De Bruyne vs the club who let him go. Mouth-watering stuff.

But 29 May is a long way away and there’s still lots to consider in the coming weeks, starting with Saturday’s Premier League clash between the two Champions League finalists.

City have been Premier League champions in waiting for what feels like months now and a win on Saturday will see them officially clinch a third title in four seasons with games to spare.

But Chelsea will have more than just spoiling City’s celebrations on their mind when they travel to the Etihad. As things stand, the west Londoners are fourth in the table with West Ham, Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton all just behind them, watching and waiting for slip-ups.

For all the brilliant work Tuchel has done since taking over, it is not beyond the realms of possibility they could miss out on Champions League football for next season if they take their eye off the ball in the final weeks of this one.

And it will be interesting to see how much bearing this season’s two previous meetings between these sides will have on this weekend’s game.

Back in early January, City travelled to Stamford Bridge in the midst of a Covid-19 outbreak but were still able to outclass Frank Lampard’s side and come away with a 3-1 victory which effectively set them on a path for the title.

Three weeks later Lampard was sacked, with one commentator comparing Roman Abramovich’s dismissal of the legendary former Blues midfielder to gunning down Bambi.

In came Tuchel and almost overnight, Chelsea grew a backbone which has seen them keep 18 clean sheets in 24 matches, move four places up the table and reach the finals of both the FA Cup and the Champions League.

Of course it was Manchester City who they beat in the semi-final of the FA Cup with a performance which saw them nullify City’s attack in a way that no team has managed in quite some time.

Guardiola made the questionable decision to rest a number of key players that day at Wembley and a low-on-confidence frontline of Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Ferran Torres barely troubled Kepa Arrizabalaga in the Chelsea goal.

Team selections could have a big influence on Saturday’s game too. After their energy-sapping performance against PSG on Tuesday, Guardiola may opt to rotate again, but it is Tuchel’s side who have had 24 hours less rest and will also have to travel up to Manchester for the game.

Neither manager will want to give too many clues away about how they intend to approach the Champions League final but at this moment in time, they both have bigger fish to fry.

As Guardiola said in his pre-match press conference: “When we have the Premier League then the focus will be on the Champions League. I’m so cautious, if you don’t have it you don’t have it.”