Welcome to Sportstar’s live blog of the FA Cup third round match between Manchester City and Chelsea being played at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England.
Full Time! Manchester City 4-0 Chelsea
Guardiola’s side will look to seal the game soon. The margin of victory looks clear and the hosts are playing comfortably to see the match out. It will face either Oxford United or Arsenal in the next round.
85’ Goal! Mahrez scores his second of the night
Foul! Manchester City starts a counter attack, with Bernardo Silva threading a pass through for Foden, who goes down after Koulibaly clips him in the box. The referee points to the spot. Another penalty for Manchester City.
Hutchinson and Zakaria pair for a Chelsea attack, and the final shot is deflected out for a corner kick. The corner kick, however, fails to trouble City as it clears the ball comfortably.
Chelsea starts playing in triangles to try a late attack, but is stopped close to the half-way mark on the ground. Manchester City, however, is maintaining a high line.
SHOT! Bernardo Silva passes the ball to Mahrez at the edge of the box and Mahrez tries another shot which is just wide off-target.
Triangular passes, by Manchester City and then a through ball into the Chelsea third. But Chalobah intercepts to stop the attack as Chelsea tries to limit any more scoring chances in what was a goal fest in the first half.
Chelsea tries to start an attack, with Gallagher and Mount combining in the final third, but Gallagher loses the ball when Mahrez puts pressure as the Algerian marches up the pitch, passes to Alvarez. Chelsea tracks ack to contain the attack, but City maintain to have possession.
Yellow Card! Cancelo wins the ball, chesting it down, but Gallagher fouls him with a late challenge, almost throwing the Portuguese full-ball to the ground. The referee, naturally, cautions the Chelsea player.
Chelsea is looking to get some grip on the game, trying back passes to start playing from the back, but Manchester City is well and truly over them so far.
Double change for Manchester City! In: Kalvin Phillips, Joao Cancelo, Out: Rodri, Sergio Gomez
Mount’s shot from the right, inside the penalty box, is first saved by Ortega, while the corner kick that follows has City players marking Chelsea tightly to deny any chance to score.
Riyadh Mahrez looks to drop deep to play a sort of left wing-back to lead a counter attack and Rodri pushes Mount down when the Chelsea player tries to make a run up the pitch and Rodri gets a yellow card.
Kepa tries to clear the ball, but it falls to Rodri, but Chelsea gets the ball back eventually and tries to kick-start and attack. However, a mispass gets the ball to Alvarez who tries to attack on the counter. Again, Chelsea regains the ball back.
Chelsea looks to revert to a back three to stop the wing attacks by Guardiola’s City. But City continues to dominate possession in the middle of the park
Second Half!
Half-Time! Manchester City 3-0 Chelsea
Chance! Mahrez, Palmer and Alvarez combine for another City attack, with Mahrez’s cross from the left just missed by the Argentine. If Alvarez could have gotten a touch on it, it may just have been a fourth before the midway mark.
Manchester City looks in complete control in terms of possession, despite having three goals in its pocket and Graham Potter will have plenty to ponder at half-time.
38’ Goal! Foden makes it three for City
Save! Mahrez shoots from another free-kick. This time, too, the shot is on target and Kepa makes a good save to punch the ball out of play. The corner the follows is also caught and thrown back into play by the Spanish goalie.
30’ Goal! Manchester City is two goal ahead now
29’ Manchester City gets a penalty!
23’ GOAL! Mahrez scores for Manchester City, MCI 1-0 CHE
Foul! Hall tries to stop Mahrez in his tracks and ends up fouling him and the referee gives a free-kick. Jorginho is infuriated and is still appealing for the previous incident of Ziyech. The referee is not interested.
Humpreys gives a long ball for Ziyech and Gomez chases it. Ortega takes control of the ball as Ziyech goes down appealing for a foul. The referee, however, is not interseted.
Chance! Palmer is released along the left, with a lovely long ball from Laporte and the youngster runs into the box and shoots into the side-net.
City starts an attack this time, with Palmer, Gomez and Mahrez running along the left flank. Mahrez tries a shot, but a block initially sees Gomez try another, which is also cleared out eventually.
Bernardo Silva tries to get the ball out into the final third, but is surrounded by three blue shirts and the ball goes out for a throw-in. That’s where Chelsea starts its counter-attack with Mount getting the ball up the pitch, but the ball is forced out for a City throw.
Chance! Gomez beats his marker on the left, cuts to his right and crosses for Alvarez, who was waiting in the box alongside Foden. Alvarez gets a touch initially, but it was Foden who tries a bicycle kick, only to see the ball go out. The referee gives a free kick to Chelsea as he saw Foden concede a foul seconds before the shot.
Riyadh Mahrez beats Hall and then cuts to his left and tries a low cross, but Kepa intercepts to catch it and end that development right there.
Manchester City is playing in triangular passes and Akanji passes to Ortega, who gets it to Rodri and the Spaniard is oushed from the back by Havertz, and he goes down wreathing in pain.
Manchester City tries to draw Chelsea out of its half and Havertz almost chases the ball past Ortega. The goalie, however, takes control to deny any further chance to the German forward.
Ziyech threads a pass through for Havertz, but two City players close him down to deny any chance there and the ball rolls back into the midfield.
Manchester City enjoying early possession, trying to play from the back and gets the ball into the final third, with Foden and Alvarez combing in the box, but Chelsea manages to clear the ball away
Kick Off!
A minute of applause for Chelsea and Juventus legend Vialli
A changes starting lineup for both teams
Minutes to kick-off!
9:25 pm: Form Guide:
Manchester City is unbeaten in its last five games, with a loss and a draw in its last 10 fixtures. It comes into the match following a 1-0 win over Chelsea. The Blues, on the other hand, has just one win in its previous eight matches.
Man City’s last five games:
- Chelsea 0-1 Man City
- Man City 1-1 Everton
- Leeds United 1-3 Man City
- Man City 3-2 Liverpool
- Man City 2-0 Girona
Chelsea’s last five games:
- Chelsea 0-1 Man City
- Nottingham Forest 1-1 Chelsea
- Chelsea 2-0 Bournemouth
- Chelsea 0-1 Aston Villa
- Newcastle United 1-0 Chelsea
Starting lineups:
MATCH PREVIEW
Chelsea will look to settle the score against Manchester City after the Premier League loss when the two sides meet in the FA Cup third round at the City of Manchester Stadium on Sunday.
Graham Potter’s side has struggled for consistency lately and has just one win in its last seven games, putting the former Brighton and Hove Albion manager’s job at serious risk.
Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic were both forced off the pitch on Thursday, adding to an injury nightmare Potter summarised by saying: “I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
The pair could be added to a growing list that includes N’Golo Kante, Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Mason Mount, Ben Chilwell, Armando Broja, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Edouard Mendy.
Mount might be available to face Manchester City on Sunday in the FA Cup and hoped Pulisic’s injury was not too serious.
The Blues boss said it was unfair to judge him on a season disrupted by an injury crisis and the World Cup.
“I’m not sitting here (as) some egomaniac that has all the answers and gets everything right,” he said. “Of course that’s not the case. But at the same time, there’s some challenges that we face, there’s some margins in the Premier League that are difficult.
“We’ve had a massive transition -- problems in terms of injuries don’t make it easy to be stable.”
Pep Guardiola, on the other hand, looked delighted and relieved with the victory between the two sides in the Premier League.
“In the second half we were miles, miles better in every department. It’s a big result for us,” he told Sky Sports.
Man City vs Chelsea predicted lineups:
City, which knocked Chelsea out of the League Cup late last year will hope for a similar result in the FA Cup at home this time around.
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