Chelsea vs Manchester City – FA Cup – Preview

Posted on February 21, 2016 by Sreya

Chelsea hosts Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on 21st February, Sunday for their fifth round FA Cup tie. The defending champions of the English Premier League have had a difficult season in the league, but performed fairly well in the cup competitions.

It is the most high profile fixture among all the matches in this particular round of the world’s oldest domestic cup competition, scheduling of which will pose a great difficulty for the visitors for they have a crucial UEFA Champions League knock-out match in the upcoming midweek.

Team News

Kurt Zouma, Falcao and John Terry have been ruled out of the tie owing to injuries while Alexandre Pato is yet to regain match fitness. Bacary Sagna, Jesus Navas, Kevin de Bruyne, Samir Nasri, Elaquim Mangala, Fabian Delph and Wilfried Bony are sidelined through injuries for Manchester City, which will force Manuel Pellegrini to field a depleted side.

Chelsea Possible Starting Lineup: Asmir Begovic, Cesar Azpilicueta, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, Baba Rahman, Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas, Willian, Oscar, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa.

Manchester City Possible Starting Lineup: Willy Caballero, Pablo Zabaleta, Nicolas Otamendi, Martin Demichelis, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fernando, Aleix Garcia, Bersant Celina, Manu Garcia, Raheem Sterling, Kelechi Iheanacho.

Thoughts From Both Camps

“The FA Cup is very important. Maybe some clubs, if they go out at the beginning, say it’s not that interesting, but once you are getting to the fifth round it has more value. I will make hardly any changes because we take the FA Cup very seriously. Winning the FA Cup is a prestigious prize in England but also worldwide.”

– Guus Hiddink, Chelsea.

“We have just 13 (senior) players available to play. We have to play Champions League on Wednesday. We’ll see the best team we can play on Sunday. Young players have the option and they must take their chances.

For me the priority is always the next game but we must make an exception now because of so many injuries. We never think about four trophies – we go game by game.”

– Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head statistics, the previous six meetings between these two sides have resulted in two wins, two losses and two draws for either side. Chelsea will begin as favorites because of their home advantage and Manuel Pellegrini’s admission that Manchester City would field a second-string side – the most probable result being 2-1 in favor of the home side.