The height of the FA Cup fifth-round ties will take place at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon as struggling Premier League champions Chelsea welcome Manchester City for a must win for both Premier League sides.
The two sides have been present in two of the last four FA Cup finals, but while Chelsea defeated Liverpool to win the trophy in 2012, City lost 1-0 to Wigan Athletic in 2013.
Thing are not rosy with Manuel Pellegrini’s side as most of his key players are ruled out of Sunday’s game due to injury.
But the Chilean tactician Pellegrini will be banking on several youngsters in their heavyweight FA Cup fifth-round clash against Chelsea City boss Manuel Pellegrini has admitted his side, who will travel to Ukraine three days later for a Champions League round of 16 meeting with Dynamo Kiev, have just 13 senior outfield players fit and available for the trip to Stamford Bridge.
Kelechi Iheanacho is expected to lead City’s attack against Chelsea on Sunday.
Pellegrini will hope the Nigerian born wonderkid Iheanacho continues his brilliant form as he averaged a goal every 70 minutes in all competitions for City this season, banging nine goals as sub.
The 19-year-old was on song as his hat-trick fired City into the FA Cup fifth round against Aston Villa.
Iheanacho has scored in each of the previous rounds of this competition, including a hat-trick in the 4-0 win against Aston Villa, the first of his career. Despite making only six starts this season, he has amassed nine goals, including a consolation effort when he came on against Tottenham last weekend. Manuel Pellegrini will definitely be starting him in the FA Cup to torment Chelsea shaky defence.
Injured captain Vincent Kompany has fully recovered from persistent calf trouble and Bacary Sagna has returned to training. Striker Wilfried Bony is still recovering after seven weeks out, though, with City still missing key quartet first-team performers.
“Sagna worked after 10 days out,” Pellegrini was quoted as saying by the club’s official website at his pre-match press conference on Friday. “Mangala is injured, Nasri, De Bruyne and Bony are also out.
“Bony has started working on the pitch in last two days. He needs at least one week more.
We have just 13 players available to play and we have to play Champions League on Wednesday, we’ll see the best team we can play on Sunday.”
With so many injury niggles to contend with and the prospect of one or two senior names being rested with that taxing journey to Eastern Europe in mind, the contest with Chelsea could represent the chance for City’s young talent to make a positive impression.
Bersant Celina, Aleix García Serrano and Manu García were all included on the bench against Tottenham and will be hopeful of earning starts. James Horsfield, Cameron Humphreys-Grant, Brandon Barker and Angelino have also featured in previous FA Cup squads this term.
“Young players have the option and they must take their chances. We normally have some young players in the Cup – one or two maximum. I hope with the team we play against Chelsea, we hope they make the performance that we know they can.
The Blues suffered a midweek setback in the Champions League, losing 2-1 to Paris Saint-Germain, their first loss since Guus Hiddink stepped in as interim boss.
Chelsea have improved steadily, but this is going to be a tough task for Hiddink’s side.
They do have a good chance of progressing given that fact City will have one eye on their upcoming Champions League tie and are struggling with injuries.
The current Premier League champions will want to avoid a draw at all costs as they have struggled away to City and so progressing on Sunday is essential.
Verdict
A tough tight tie for both sides: Chelsea have been consistent since Hiddink’s arrival and despite their midweek loss against PSG, they attacked well in stages. The FA Cup is Chelsea’s best chance of silverware this season and it will be a tough task for them to go all the way. Manchester City’s confidence have gone down after losing to their title rivals two weeks back – this is a good chance for them to pick up and restore some confidence ahead of their upcoming fixtures. If Pellegrini does rest some of his key players it will be a chance for the less-regular players to show what they’re made of and attempt to heap more misery on Chelsea.
Anthony Nlebem
