Chelsea face Manchester City this weekend in the FA Cup final, and Pep Guardiola’s rotation in the midst of a Premier League title race suggests he is fearing what the Blues can do at Wembley.
Chelsea are desperate to rescue some form of success from the 2025/26 season after not reaching their target of qualifying for the Champions League via the Premier League.
The Blues have an interim in charge for the FA Cup final for the second time in the last 14 years, with Calum McFarlane looking to follow in the footsteps of Roberto Di Matteo’s 2012 victory against Liverpool.
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Pep Guardiola is scared of Chelsea ahead of FA Cup final
The temporary boss will be very familiar with Saturday’s opponents. McFarlane worked alongside the likes of Nico O’Reilly in the City academy, and got a point from them in his first game in charge back in January.
The FA Cup is not the only honour City are fighting for, with Guardiola having a Premier League title race to deal with, and a game three days before the final against Crystal Palace.
Manchester City v Crystal Palace - Premier League
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City heavily rotated their side at the Etihad, resting the likes of Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku for the final.
They were still able to secure a 3-0 victory, but proved in the process that they are fearful of what Chelsea can do against them at Wembley.
The Blues snapped their losing streak in the Premier League last weekend with an impressive draw away from home against Liverpool.
They were buoyed by the return of Levi Colwill to the starting side, as well as Reece James coming back into the side off the bench.
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Chelsea know how to beat City in big games
Across a period of six weeks in 2021, Chelsea beat City in three consecutive big games in three different competitions under Thomas Tuchel.
The Blues helped secure a place in the top four with a 2-1 win in the Premier League against the champions, and knocked them out of the FA Cup 1-0 in the semi-finals.
The Champions League final followed in Porto, with Kai Havertz’s goal enough to win the Blues their second European Cup.
Those three wins are the last occasions where Chelsea got the better of City, but were seen as the underdogs for all of them, and have clearly remained in Guardiola’s mind ahead of Saturday.
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