Manchester City welcome Chelsea to the Etihad Stadium in a blockbuster Third Round tie of 2022-23 FA Cup.
Victory would see Man City reach the Fourth Round for a 11th conseuctive season, whilst Chelsea are looking to avoid exiting at this stage for the first time since 1997-98 season.
Team News
Man City have no fresh injury concerns to report after their Premier League win against Chelsea on Thursday evening, as Julian Alvarez looks to start after he was rested on the substitutes bench at Stamford Bridge.
Aymeric Laporte (back) could also feature but Ruben Dias (hamstring) remains absent.
Chelsea could be without Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic after the pair suffered respective knocks to heel and knee on Thursday evening.
Mason Mount (knock) could be available if he passes a late fitness test.
Edouard Mendy (shoulder/finger), Ben Chilwell (thigh), N’Golo Kante (hamstring), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (calf), Reece James, Wesley Fofana and Armando Broja (all knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Man City will host Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday 8 January with kick-off confirmed for 4:30pm GMT, live on BBC One.
Stat Attack
- Man City have won four of seven previous FA Cup ties against Chelsea (W4, L3).
- Chelsea have won just one of three previous FA Cup away ties against Man City (W1, L2), with both defeats coming via 2-0 result in January 1948 and February 2014 respectively.
- None of seven previous FA Cup ties between Man City anf Chelsea have gone to a replay.
- City have won three of their last six FA Cup ties against Premier League opposition (W3, L3).
- Excluding penalty shootouts, Chelsea are unbeaten in four of their last five top-flight ties in the FA Cup (W3, D1, L1).
Prediction
Having edged their league meeting on Thursday evening at Stamford Bridge, Man City now return home knowing that they’ve beaten Graham Potter’s Blues twice in two different competitions already this season so I expect confidence to be high despite two contrastable halves in West London.
Chelsea though will be emotionally motivated to avoid a third defeat in three different competitions against City, whilst the death of Gianluca Vialli will also provide further motivation yet their injury crisis and league struggles will temper any prospects of taking this cup overly seriously.
Potter though certainly won’t want his Blues to roll over but I can’t help but feel that City will have too much quality if they’re back to their best consistently across 90 minutes, although the Citizens have a Carabao Cup trip to Southampton to come in midweek.
Prediction: Manchester City 2-0 Chelsea
Result: Manchester City 4-0 Chelsea
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