Despite the short turn around, Manchester City managed to hang on at Wembley and find a way through. That breakthrough coming from Bernardo Silva who couldn’t sleep after his penalty miss against Real Madrid on Wednesday night. Either Coventry or Manchester United will await them on the 25th May.

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Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea Match Review

FA CUP

MOTM: Ortega/Doku (Manchester City) | Cole Palmer (Chelsea)

 There wasn’t one player that stood above the rest for me in this game but a few did play a big part. Cole Palmer for Chelsea was the creative outlet in an attack that couldn’t find the net with the chances he made. Ortega making a number of important saves to keep a tired Manchester City alive. Jeremy Doku persisting down the left hand side which eventually led to the winning goal.

Notable Stats:

• Manchester City have reached the FA Cup final in consecutive years for a third time, whilst Chelsea have been eliminated 11 times in their last 13 appearances at Wembley.

• Manchester City are unbeaten in their last 29 matches in all competitions. The longest ever run in the club’s history.

• Chelsea failed to score in five of their last six games at Wembley.

Main Takeaways:

The starting lineup from City was very strong which I’d expected in the preview, given City were knocked out from the Champions League and Pep has seen the rotations fail in previous seasons. Haaland being out completely due to injury was a surprise. As was not picking Doku or Bobb to start. Great to see Nathan Ake back fit and in the team.

This is how Chelsea lined up for the game and their average starting positions. As you’ll notice, if City had pinned them back more then we wouldn’t see three Chelsea players over the halfway line. Throughout the game making several chances on the transition. The quality of Palmer, pressing of Chelsea and tiredness of City all factored into that.

Their struggle in front of goal continued with Jackson being the main culprit. As you’ll see below in the graphic (OptaAnalyst) City struggled to ever get a consistent grip on the game in possession. Eventually they worked to their goal by making several chances down the left hand side.

Working down the left side got them the breakthrough goal with this pattern below. Wall pass through Akanji and out to Jeremy Doku. He moves down the flank pulling in two Chelsea players. De Bruyne makes the run into the box and is found by Doku. His cross is saved but comes out to Bernardo Silva who waited outside the penalty box.

Chelsea did have a similar approach to Real Madrid (4-2-4 OOP) of blocking the middle off whilst City built up but to open up passes between the lines, City would stagger their pivot in Stones/Akanji/Rodri.

Akanji in this game showed that he may lack the intelligence Stones has in his midfield role but provides more in his fitness/availability and his athleticism.

Oscar Bobb had a bright few minutes when he came on, nutmegs Caicedo and shows some very good touches on the ball. One to watch next season as he get promoted with minutes.

Jeremy Doku next season is on track to explode in terms of goal contributions if his trajectory continues like he has done. Obviously coming on late has played it’s part but his decision making and variety of options to attack the FB has been impressive of late.

Moving Forward:

• The team needed this result mentally after the disappointment of the midweek defeat, all of them happy with the performance and accepting of the lottery penalties is. Against Chelsea it was only about getting over the line whilst exhausted.

• Rest is what awaits the City players without a game until Thursday night. Pep Guardiola mentioned that the team will have two days off before training again.

• Brighton are the next Premier League game for City and by the time that game arrives Arsenal and Liverpool would have played twice. Assuming they do not drop points then that ramps up the pressure to win Thursday night.

• Manchester City are into the FA Cup final which takes place on the 25th May at Wembley, their opponents will be either Coventry City or another Manchester derby against United. That we will find out this afternoon…

Interesting Links

• Sky Blue Times thread on the winning goal.

• Bernardo Silva talking through the goal.

• Markstatsbot - Manchester City vs Chelsea

• Match Highlights

• Stay up to date with the City players minutes here.

• Tactics Journal post on the City buildup here.

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