Chelsea face Man City at Wembley in just under an hour, and the teams are in!
Mauricio Pochettino goes with much the same team which battered Everton 6-0 on Monday night, with a couple of tweaks.
Enzo Fernandez returns to the team, with Mykhailo Mudryk dropping to the bench. This means Cole Palmer likely returns to the right wing, with Noni Madueke on the left and Nicolas Jackson through the middle, supported by Conor Gallagher.
Against expectations, Madueke keeps his place in the side despite being at the heart of the penalty farce on Monday night. This is a huge vote of confidence from Pochettino, who is clearly hoping it will become a watershed moment for the winger and his development.
Axel Disasi is fit, but as we suspected, Pochettino keeps faith with the Thiago Silva – Trevoh Chalobah double act that did well against the Toffees. Silva has been exposed at times this season, but this is the sort of game where we will be sitting on the back foot, and he can do what he does best. This could yet be a glorious farewell for his, and is likely his last appearances at Wembley – unless we can beat Pep Guardiola’s team and make it to the final of course.
Ben Chilwell is fit enough for the bench, but Marc Cucurella keeps his place on the left side of defence. He will have his work cut out today.
There’s also some pretty massive news from the Man City side of things too – striker Erling Haaland has not travelled with the team, after picking up an injury in their midweek defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League.
They’re not short of excellent replacements, but this is certainly a boost to Chelsea.
Here are the full team line-ups for Chelsea vs Man City (kick off at 17:15 GMT)
CHELSEA:
Introducing our semi-final XI…
🇦🇷 Enzo returns in the middle.
©️ Gallagher captains the Blues.
⚡️ Madueke keeps his place.@ParimatchUK | #CFC | #EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/j8e0nFXH46— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 20, 2024
