The holidays may be long over, but the absolute insane level of fixture congestion, the likes of which we have never seen before, still persist. Much like West Ham United and Brentford FC, Chelsea and Manchester City will also meet each other for the second time, in about a week.
Yesterday it was in the league, Sunday it will be in the FA Cup. When you have endless fixtures and ties, for weeks on end across multiple competitions, this is going to happen. You’re going to play the same side again and again.
Chelsea FC vs Manchester City FA Cup 3rd Round FYIs
Kickoff: Sunday Jan 8, 5:30pm, Etihad Stadium
Team News: Chelsea Manchester City
Starting XI Predictions: Chelsea Manchester City
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK
Man City Team News
Pep Guardiola’s side only have two fitness concerns- Aymeric Laporte (back) who is questionable and Ruben Dias (hamstring) is out. This is more or less unchanged from yesterday.
City have now won five of their last six at home versus Chelsea, across all competitions, so they will no doubt be fancying their chances here.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction vs Chelsea (FA Cup)
Ortega; Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Cancelo; Gundogan, Phillips, De Bruyne; Palmer, Alvarez, Grealish
Prediction: Manchester City 2, Chelsea 0
Given the utterly calamitous injury crisis that Chelsea is dealing with right now, I just can’t see them getting a result right now over arguably the world’s most talented and deepest club.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.