Man City vs Chelsea Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Key Man + Predicted Score

Manchester City welcome Chelsea to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening in one of the stand-out fixtures in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

The two clubs are the favourites for the Premier League title but they will have all eyes focused on cup matters this weekend with a place in the quarter finals at stake.

City will be out for revenge having suffered a 1-0 loss to Chelsea two weeks ago, whereas Jose Mourinho will be desperate to repeat that impressive victory to continue his superb record in the FA Cup.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men will have the advantage of a full weeks rest with their clash with Sunderland called-off on Wednesday due to adverse weather conditions.

The Blues on the other hand were held to a 1-1 draw at West Brom so Mourinho will be keen to get back to winning ways tomorrow and they arrive in Manchester off the back of a 12 game unbeaten run in all competitions.

Team News

Manchester City have been boosted by the return of midfielder Samir Nasri. The Frenchman has been out for a month with a knee injury but Pellegrini confirmed today he’s fit and available for the game.

The City boss is expected to rest a few key men with one eye on Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Barcelona. Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Alvaro Negredo are among those who could get a breather.

Javi Garcia is also back in contention having recovered from a muscle strain but Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero remain out through injury.

Chelsea have problems in defence with Mourinho confirming at his press conference today that both John Terry and Gary Cahill will miss the trip to the Etihad through injury.

Terry has missed the last two games and still isn’t fit while Cahill picked up a calf problem in midweek. This means Branislav Ivanovic could move in to the center of defence with Cesar Azpilicueta reverting to right-back and Ashley Cole coming back in on the left.

Fernando Torres is likely to lead the attack after returning off the bench on Tuesday having recovered from a knee injury. Mourinho is likely to adopt similar tactics to the game two weeks ago that saw him play with three central midfielder with Hazard and Willian supporting the main striker.

Likely Line-Ups

Key Man

Eden Hazard: The Belgian international has been in excellent form of late and we can see him being the key man tomorrow. City will need to stop him if they want to get a positive result.

Predicted Score

Man City 1-2 Chelsea: I think we can expect another tight and tactical game but if City do go ahead and rest some of their key men, we can see Chelsea edging this one.

What team would you like to see start and what’s your predicted score? Share your views below.