MANCHESTER, England (AP) — This season’s FA Cup has already produced results. Biggest upset in 155 year history. Why not another one?
At first glance, Chelsea’s victory over Manchester City in Saturday’s final may not go down as one of the most memorable shocks in the history of football’s oldest finals tournament, but it certainly tipped the odds.
Let’s consider the fate of both teams heading into the spectacle at Wembley.
City are already in contention for a treble of domestic trophies. won the English League Cup. They are in second place in the Premier League, two points behind Arsenal, with two matches remaining, and have lost just one domestic game since the end of November.
Pep Guardiola’s side are certainly in good form, even if his current rank feels below the standards of the best players of his time at City.
Meanwhile, Chelsea is in turmoil despite spending more than $1 billion to build a team that won the Club World Cup in less than a year.
Two coaches have been fired since the beginning of this year. Liam Rosenier lived less than four months. After suffering seven losses in eight official matches, he was told he would be sent off in April.
Since then, there has been little improvement in their results, with Chelsea still without a win in seven league games and seen as likely to miss out on next season’s Champions League qualification.
They are relying on a new caretaker manager to end the season on a positive note and deny Guardiola his 17th major title with City and 35th overall.
Callum MacFarlane was promoted from Chelsea’s academy to replace the club’s World Cup-winning manager. Enzo Maresca was fired in January..
He has now returned to that position following Rosenior’s departure.
MacFarlane vs. Guardiola feels like an epic mismatch of balance. Or is it?
Despite having very limited experience as a head coach, MacFarlane has already achieved outstanding results from City’s academy.
This was especially true when he took charge of Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with City in January.
Since his return, he led his team to victory over Leeds in the FA Cup semi-final and a 1-1 draw with Liverpool last week.
In that sense, he has become accustomed to producing performances in important situations.
So while the victory over City does not compare to sixth-tier Macclesfield’s third-round defeat of title-holders Crystal Palace, it is an unlikely storyline in itself that a new manager led a crisis-ridden Chelsea to victory at Wembley.
major matches
In the Premier League, Brighton are looking to strengthen their bid to qualify for the Champions League against Leeds.
Brighton are seventh, ahead of Bournemouth, who do not play City until Tuesday, and could move into sixth with a win.
West Ham can move out of the bottom three if they win against Newcastle. This would put them ahead of Tottenham, who play Chelsea on Tuesday.
Arsenal could move a step closer to the title when they face relegated Burnley on Monday.
But the biggest game of the weekend in England will be in Scotland, with Celtic hosting Hearts in their final game of the season.
It will be a winner-take-all match against Hearts, who have a one-point lead over second-placed Celtic. A draw would be enough for Hearts to win their first league title since 1960. Defending champions Celtic must win to retain the trophy.
Featured players
Mark Gehi was part of the Palace team that suffered a crushing defeat at Macclesfield in January. He is now one game away from winning the FA Cup with Palace. We beat City in last year’s final..
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Chelsea hope Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho will be able to feature in the FA Cup final after suffering muscular injuries. Rodri and Abdukkodir Kusanov are competing for City.
arsenal defender Ben White out for season Associated with medial ligament damage.
off the field
Despite Liverpool’s Premier League title defense collapsing this season and boos from fans, manager Arne Slott remains confident his job is secure.
“I don’t think I’m making that decision alone, but there’s every reason to believe that I will be Liverpool manager next season,” he said.
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James Robson is https://x.com/James Saran Robson
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