Chelsea vs Man City preview: Carabao Cup first of four trophies on offer for City
Pep Guardiola has always maintained the quadruple is impossible. The Manchester City manager is adamant his side will lose between now and the end of the season and they almost did in the Champions League in midweek. City left Germany with a 3-2 victory over Schalke and now turn their attention to winning their first piece of silverware of the season.
City face Chelsea for the second time in a fortnight on Sunday, as they bid to become the first side to retain the Carabao Cup since Manchester United between 2009 and 2010. Guardiola’s side romped to a 6-0 win over Chelsea earlier this month and the Spaniard will hope for a similarly emphatic performance at Wembley.
Guardiola’s cup final record is exemplary. The City head coach has won 11 of his last 12 finals he has contested as a manager and he will be determined to prolong that streak at Chelsea’s expense. Some will question why Guardiola is so dismissive of an unprecedented quadruple, as City are arguably the best team on the planet on their day and they very rarely fall too far from their best.
It’s not that City are not good enough to win every game, but Guardiola knows their hectic schedule will run his players into the ground. It’s why some believe Liverpool have the edge in the Premier League title race, as Jurgen Klopp’s side are only in two competitions.
From the day of the Carabao Cup final, City have six games in 21 days. Though the calibre of opponents in that run is not particularly high, it will take a lot out of the City players and leave little time for Guardiola to actually coach and prepare his players for upcoming matches. That run comes before they have to play Manchester United and Tottenham and further games in the Champions League and FA Cup if they progress in those respective competitions.
Guardiola is also navigating the rest of the season without being able to readily call on Benjamin Mendy – City’s only natural left-back in the squad. Mendy has only started 13 league matches since joining City for £52m in the summer of 2017 and Guardiola has made signing a new left-back at the end of the season a priority. There is also insufficient cover for Fernandinho, who is the key cog in City’s well-oiled machine.
Full match preview, including team news and predicted scoreline
While Guardiola boasts a remarkable cup final resume, his opposite number on Sunday, Maurizio Sarri, doesn’t even have one. A trip to Wembley this weekend represents Sarri’s first ever major cup final in 29 years of management. With the chance of silverware within touching distance, you’d expect their to be a feel-good factor around the clubs involved. That is the case at City but not for Chelsea.
Chelsea’s humiliating 6-0 defeat to City has reportedly put Sarri on the brink of the sack and some are speculating that another heavy loss to Guardiola’s side could prove the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Sarri started his tenure as Chelsea manager with no defeats in his first 18 competitive matches but they have followed that up with eight defeats in the last 24 outings. By Sarri’s own admission, Chelsea have taken steps backwards in grasping his philosophy.
Chelsea supporters have also shown signs of losing patience with the Italian. His refusal to play teenage wonderkid Callum Hudson-Odoi in meaningful matches continues to amaze, while his substitutions have become far to predictable. While Chelsea’s team picks itself, the same cannot be said for City.
Guardiola deployed Fernandinho at centre-back in the 6-0 drilling of Chelsea and is continuing to find ways to fit David Silva, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne into the team. Bernardo has been forced into the offensive trio at times, which has meant benching Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez.
Sunday’s cup final between Chelsea and City should showcase two of modern footballs great philosophies, but while City are marching onwards, Chelsea are just one defeat away from another managerial crisis.
