City make four changes for FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has made four changes from the Champions League game with Real Madrid for today’s FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea.

Stefan Ortega Moreno, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Julian Alvarez all return to the starting line-up for the game at Wembley which kicks off at 17:15 (UK).

Ederson, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol all move to the bench while Erling Haaland is missing from today’s squad.

In his pre-match news conference, Pep Guardiola said that the City striker had suffered “little niggles” in the quarter-final second leg that went to extra time.

Kevin De Bruyne was also exhausted after a breathless performance that saw him score an equaliser but is ready to start again as we try to secure a place in the final for a second successive season.

TEAM NEWS

CITY XI: Ortega Moreno, Walker (C), Stones, Akanji, Ake, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Foden, Grealish, Alvarez

Subs: Ederson, Dias, Kovacic, Doku, Gomez, Gvardiol, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis

CHELSEA XI: Will follow shortly…

TACTICS

The penalty shootout defeat on Wednesday night was mentally and physically draining but the team are determined to keep pushing in the two remaining competitions.

Captain Kyle Walker starts despite only returning from injury in midweek and playing 120 minutes, but is ready to go again.

He will line up alongside Stones and Manuel Akanji in the centre of defence with the returning Ake on the left side.

Rodrigo will be at the base of midfield with De Bruyne,  Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and even Alvarez floating between attacking positions.

But with that freedom to drop dep, he is mostly like to lead the line with Jack Grealish taking up his favourite left wing spot and Guardiola has a strong bench if there’s any signs of fatigue after a tough week.

OLD FOES

Guardiola and Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino have a rivalry going back to their playing days in the 1990s when they were opposite sides of the Barcelona-Espanyol rivalry in the Catalan city.

Their managerial battle also now stretches back 15 years back to the time they were in charge at the same clubs in Spain.

Pochettino had a famous victory when his Tottenham side knocked City out of the Champions League in 2019 on away goal’s rule after a 4-3 defeat at the Etihad.

But it’s the City boss who has the better record overall, winning 13 of their 24 meetings plus seven draws, including eight victories from 15 matches in charge at the Etihad.

However, since taking over at Chelsea, the Argentinian has secured two draws in the Premier League this season.

The approach, particularly in the 1-1 draw at City, was to play at the break and it will be interesting to see how the London side set up tactically today.

WATCH: Stat attack: City in FA Cup semi-finals

OLD FOES

Guardiola and Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino have a rivalry going back to their playing days in the 1990s when they were opposite sides of the Barcelona-Espanyol rivalry in the Catalan city.

Their managerial battle also now stretches back 15 years back to the time they were in charge at the same clubs in Spain.

Pochettino had a famous victory when his Tottenham side knocked City out of the Champions League in 2019 on away goal’s rule after a 4-3 defeat at the Etihad.

But it’s the City boss who has the better record overall, winning 13 of their 24 meetings plus seven draws, including eight victories from 15 matches in charge at the Etihad.

However, since taking over at Chelsea, the Argentinian has secured two draws in the Premier League this season.

The approach, particularly in the 1-1 draw at City, was to play on the break and it will be interesting to see how the London side set up tactically today.

STATS AND FACTS

City are unbeaten in our last eight meetings with Chelsea in all competitions - winning six, although both games in the Premier League this season finished in draws.

Chelsea have been eliminated from five of their last seven FA Cup ties against City, including in the third round last season. However, they did won 1-0 the last time we met in the semi-final of the competition in 2020/21.

This is the seventh time in eight seasons under Pep Guardiola that City are playing in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, while they’ll be the first team to do so in six consecutive campaigns in the competition. However, we’ve only progressed from two of our previous six under the Spaniard (2019 and 2023), with three of their four defeats coming against London sides - two against Arsenal and one against Chelsea.

City are looking to reach the FA Cup final in consecutive campaigns for the third time in our history, previously doing so in 1933-1934 and 1955-1956.

Chelsea have been eliminated on five of the last six occasions they’ve faced the holders of the FA Cup in the competition. However, they did win their most recent such encounter, beating United 1-0 in the quarter-finals in 2017.

City have won 28 of our last 31 FA Cup matches, featuring two runs of 10 consecutive victories in that time including a current one. The last team to win more in a row in the competition were Chelsea (13 between 2009 and 2011).

Chelsea’s Mauricio Pochettino has been eliminated from four of his eight major semi-finals in his managerial career. He’s lost both of his FA Cup semi-final ties (2017 and 2018 with Tottenham), and his only semi-final tie against Pep Guardiola (2021 Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain).

Rodri scored in both Premier League games against Chelsea this season – he’s never scored in three consecutive appearances against an opponent in all competitions in his career in the big five European leagues before.

Raheem Sterling has scored in both of Chelsea’s meetings with City this season. He could be the first Blues player to score in three different games against us in a single campaign, with this the 12th different season the sides have met 3+ times.