Three days after facing off in a colossal Premier League battle at Stamford Bridge, a struggling Chelsea travel to the Etihad Stadium this weekend to take on the current champions of England in one of the oldest competitions in world football – the FA Cup.
Manchester City, six-time winners of the domestic trophy have arguably struggled in the FA Cup over the past decade, particularly during the Pep Guardiola era. While lifting the crown under the Catalan coach in 2019, City have been eliminated prematurely in five of the previous six seasons despite being overwhelming favourites.
With Arsenal running away with the league title and City stumbling in second, the FA Cup provides Guardiola with a great opportunity to still make it a memorable campaign for the Manchester-based club.
Meanwhile, the FA Cup offers Graham Potter the chance to win his first trophy in English football while helping to ease the pressure off his back after some turbulent results recently.
The magic of the cup alludes to the mind-blowing feeling that supporters feel when David trumps Goliath but sometimes it’s still fun to watch two Goliaths of the football world lock horns.
Whoever wins this bout has knocked out a serious contender for the title and so all eyes will be watching this Sunday.
City have already been victorious in a cup competition against Chelsea this season, throwing the Londoners out on their backside with a 2-0 win in the Carabao Cup back in November. Again, on Thursday, Guardiolas men were triumphant at the Bridge, winning 1-0 to take a step closer to the summit.
In this tactical analysis piece, we will tactically preview the game between City and Chelsea, looking at the tactics expected from both sides and how the Blues can nullify Guardiola’s well-oiled machine.
Formations and lineups
When it comes to predicting formations, it’s much easier to take an educated guess on the shape that Guardiola will deploy in contrast to his counterpart in the opposite dugout.
Guardiola has rarely diverted from using a 4-3-3 throughout his entire managerial career. There have been certain times where the 4-2-3-1 has been preferential for the two-time UEFA Champions League winning coach as well as a back three on occasion but the 4-3-3 has remained just as constant as his possession-oriented philosophy.
Nonetheless, the 4-3-3 works merely as a base to quantify the starting positions of his players. Particularly when City are on the ball, the players move around into different areas of the pitch and so the 4-3-3 becomes anything but.
Nonetheless, as a base, it is likely that the Cityzens will line out in their usual formation for this massive FA Cup clash as it has been a constant for the Premier League champions yet again this season.
The key component of Guardiola’s starting lineup to watch out for is who will start in the fullback slots. There has been a pattern to the former Barcelona boss’ thought process over the past few games.
Usually, Guardiola picks a conventional centre-back to start on one side of the defence. This has either been John Stones as a right-back or else Nathan Ake on the left.
If
