Dreams of a continental and domestic double will end for Chelsea or Manchester City, as the two sides lock horns in today’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium. Chelsea and Manchester City both reached the Champions League semi-finals in midweek but will have their sights set on another piece of silverware but this will be the first meeting between Thomas Tuchel and Pep Guardiola since the German moved to England in January.
Previously the two men duelled as the respective coaches of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich and both will be hoping to land a psychological blow at Wembley as they target future success and the possibility of meeting again in the Champions League final.
A piece of domestic silverware would further boost Tuchel’s cache with the Chelsea board come the summer window and the 47-year-old has impressed since replacing Frank Lampard. Lampard led the Blues to last season’s FA Cup final but the defensive issues that plagued them that day continued to hamper their hopes of success and his successor has prioritised a solid foundation.
Recent defeats by West Brom and Porto can both be mitigated. In the former they were reduced to 10 men when leading 1-0, while they looked secure in protecting a 2-0 first-leg advantage for all but the last kick of Tuesday’s defeat in Seville, only to fall victim to Mehdi Taremi’s wonder strike.
City, meanwhile, demonstrated their resilience to come from behind to win 2-1 away at Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday and make the last four of the Champions League for the first time under Guardiola thanks to a 4-2 aggregate victory.
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That came on the back of last Saturday’s shock 2-1 defeat by Leeds United and, good as the Citizens are, the Spaniard will be concerned about his team failing to keep a clean sheet in their last three.
Despite their recent issues, they do still possess the best defensive record in the Premier League and considering Chelsea’s recent improvement, a cagey affair leading to extra time looks likely.
This match is the first of two trips to Wembley in nine days for City, who face Tottenham in the EFL Cup final next weekend.
Despite their 2019-20 campaign being deemed a disappointment, they still won that trophy for the third straight season and their squad has shown they know how to get over the line.
Holding an 11-point lead in the Premier League standings, Guardiola’s side can afford to focus on their cup form and Wednesday’s win in Dortmund will have given them great belief after their previous Champions League flops.
In contrast, Chelsea may have a new manager but have still to consistently demonstrate whether they have the force of personality to win one-off matches. While they won this competition in 2018, they lost both last year’s final and the 2017 edition. The Londoners also went down on penalties to City in the 2019 EFL Cup final.
Furthermore, a look at the coaches’ head-to-head shows that in five previous matches Tuchel has still to beat Guardiola, with one draw and four defeats.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Jesus has had to bide his time in recent weeks due to Guardiola’s preference for playing with a false nine but will be raring to go in the cups that are usually his domain.
The Brazilian has started all four of City’s games in this competition, netting against both Cheltenham Town and Swansea City, while he notched a brace in the 2019 final against Watford.
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