Speaking of which, both teams have bad memories of falling in the semi-finals over the past 3 seasons; and over the past 3 years, both have made it to the FA Cup final, resulting in 3 consecutive FA Cups where they missed out on winning the cup by going undefeated in the final. The last time the two teams met in the FA Cup was last season's semi-final, where Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 to reach the final, with Ziyech scoring the only goal.
The two sides played each other once just two days ago in a meeting where City improved their performance with a quick change and beat Chelsea 1-0 thanks to a Mahrez goal. For the Blues, the last Premier League game** saw another addition to the team's injury list, with Sterling and Pulisic leaving the field with first-half injuries, joining Brouwer, Kante, Reus - and Mendy - who are all unavailable to play for Chelsea tonight. Also in the backline, Thiago Silva will need to be rested, meaning that the team's winter window purchase, Bardiyasile, has a chance to play. However, considering that Badiyasile made mistakes in his last league game and hasn't played since, his condition is actually a big concern. The last round of the Premier League, Chelsea's 19-year-old midfielder Chukwuemeka and 18-year-old Lewis Howell have been substitutes, which means that, in this FA Cup match, Chelsea's young players also have more opportunities to play.
On City's side, the little spider has returned and could come in as the starting center forward tonight. Currently the team's center backs Ruben Diaz and Laporte are injured, while the midfield, no matter how it is rotated, are basically Premier League first-team players, with only wing back Lewis and midfielder Palmer being a little less experienced, but have previously proven their ability. In the midfield, Phillips has already come on as a substitute in the last round, and will likely start tonight to prove that he is still worthy of the transfer fee paid by Manchester City.
Guardiola has always taken all his matches seriously and won't give up any of his pennants easily. The team has an 8-in-4 match in 3 days today, but Guardiola's team will still go all out tonight against Chelsea on a rotational basis.
