English FA CUP
2013-04-14 - Chelsea vs Manchester City
A Sports Betting Pick by Cruiser
Football : English FA Cup
Venue: Wembley, London
Sunday 14th April 2013 – Kickoff time 16:00
Match Preview :
Chealse and Manchester City go into battle knowing that the winner will face Wigan in the Final and they will be favourites to lift the trophy. Both sides have failed to live up to expectations this season and have not hit their targets with early elimination from the UEFA Champions League and Manchester United running away with the Premier League title.
However, Chelsea is still in the Europa League semi-finals and showed no signs of fatigue despite playing a lot of matches more then any other teams in the Premiership this season.
Chelsea does have a good record in this competition, having won four times in six seasons, including a 2-1 victory over Liverpool in last season's final, while Manchester City defeated Stoke City 1-0 in the 2011 final. So it will be a case of the defending Champions Chelsea taking on 2011's winner in Manchester City tonight.
Meanwhile, Manchester City have not conceded a goal when they took out sides such as Watford, Stoke, Leeds United and Barnsley enroute to setting up the clash with Chelsea. But for Chelsea, despite beginning with an impressive win over Southampton, but they were then given a huge scare by Brentford before coming out winners following a replay. Chelsea's win over Middlesbrough was followed by a quarter-final against Manchester United, when Rafa Benitez's men won a replay at Stamford Bridge thanks to a spectacular Demba Ba goal.
Interim Chelsea manager Benitez will leave in the summer, but he has a chance to go on a high with his side fighting for a top-four finish in the Premier League and through to a Europa League semi-final against Basel, so a double is still a possibility.
However, have just three days to recover from a trip to Russia after their second leg of their European quarter-final against Rubin Kazan, and face a City team in good form. And they will face Roberto Mancini's men who are set to finish second in the Premier League despite narrowing the gap on Manchester United top 12 points by beating the Red Devils 2-1 on Monday.
Now Chelsea will want to prove that they will want to keep their title [as they are still the FA Cup holders] and beat Manchester City in this match. The Blues are unbeaten in their last 29 FA Cup matches; winning 23 and drawing six.
Team News :
Chelsea Team News :
Rafa Benitez may decide to stick with Fernando Torres in attack against Manchester City after he was on target against Rubin Kazan. Benitez has regularly rotated his strikers and Demba Ba was ineligible to face Rubin, but he is still recovering from an ankle knock and Torres' form has impressed of late.
The likes of Gary Cahill (knee) and Ashley Cole (hamstring) will continue to miss this match, along with long-term absentee Oriol Romeu (knee), but Ryan Bertrand could return after an illness.
But the likes of Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Branislav Ivanovic are all likely to start this match.
Manchester City Team News :
Manchester City playmaker David Silva has not yet been ruled out of this clash. Manager Roberto Mancini will give the Spaniard's hamstring until the morning of the match to prove his fitness after suffering the injury in the derby win over United.
Striker Sergio Aguero is pushing to return to the starting line-up after two substitute appearances since recovering from a knee injury but Mancini may still think he is not fully fit of a match of this magnitude.
Predictions :
Go for Chelsea and accept the 1/4 ball here.
The Pick :
Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
Take Chelsea with the 1/4 ball advantage here,
