Chelsea 1-0 Manchester City: Hakim Ziyech sends the Blues to the FA Cup final

Werner-Ziyech-Chelsea

Chelsea booked their place in the FA Cup final with a 1-0 win over Manchester City earlier today.

The Blues halted Pep Guardiola’s charge for a quadruple this season and today’s win will give them a massive confidence boost ahead of the Champions League semi-finals against Real Madrid. 

Hakim Ziyech scored the only goal of the game on the 55th minute for Chelsea and Manchester City will be disappointed with the result and the performance here.

Guardiola decided to rest the likes of Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez, Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gundogan from the start and Chelsea made the most of that. The Blues fielded a strong starting lineup and Tuchel’s tactics managed to contain the City attack.

The likes of Sterling and Torres have not been at their best this season and City missed the guile and intelligence of Foden and Mahrez in the attack. 

Furthermore, the Manchester City midfield lacked in creativity and goals. Guardiola fielded a defensive-minded midfield tonight and City missed the attacking quality of Gundogan. 

As for Chelsea, the likes of Kante, Silva put on a splendid display defensively and they managed to disrupt the opposition play, time and again.

Chelsea have shown immense improvement since the departure of Frank Lampard. Tuchel’s defensive organization has been the catalyst behind the Blues’ transformation this season. 

Meanwhile, City will be disappointed with the injury to midfielder Kevin de Bruyne early in the second half. The Belgian had to be taken off with an apparent ankle injury ahead of a vital week where they will play the Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain and the League Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur.

Ziyech and Werner rose to the occasion

Both attackers have been heavily criticized this season but they managed to deliver a big performance tonight.

The two players combined for Chelsea’s winning goal and the City defence struggled to deal with their pace and movement. 

Manager Thomas Tuchel also heaped praise on the two after the game. It will be interesting to see if this performance can give them the confidence to turn their careers around at Stamford Bridge. 

Line-ups

Chelsea

Kepa, Antonio Rüdiger, Thiago Silva, Cesar Azpilicueta, Ben Chilwell, Jorginho, N’Golo Kanté, Reece James, Hakim Ziyech, Mason Mount, Timo Werner

Substitutes

Willy Caballero, Emerson, Kurt Zouma, Marcos Alonso, Billy Gilmour, Kai Havertz, Olivier Giroud, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Christian Pulisic

Manchester City

Zack Steffen, Benjamin Mendy, Rúben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, João Cancelo, Rodri, Fernandinho, Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne, Ferran Torres, Gabriel Jesus

Substitutes

Ederson, Nathan Aké, John Stones, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, İlkay Gündoğan, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez