MAN CITY VS CHELSEA
Saturday 20th April, 5:15pm
City @ 8/13
Chelsea @ 15/4
Draw @ 10/3
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It has been a calamitous week for Premier League clubs in Europe – games were lost, goals were conceded, and penalty kicks were bungled. Bernardo Silva’s crucial shoot-out attempt against Real Madrid was so well anticipated by goalkeeper, Andriy Lunin, that the ball arrived in his hands with all the surprise of curling stone sliding towards its target.
‘I’m sorry, son, there will be no stifling, soulless, nation-backed domination of an entire sport this year.’ The phrase ‘double-treble’ has also been consigned to the bottom of the ocean. Manchester City will simply have to try and make do with a double-double in 2024.
The Manchester City v Chelsea FA Cup semi-final is a 5:15pm kick-off at Wembley on Saturday, but victory for the defending champions is not quite so certain all of a sudden.
It has been a heck of a season for Chelsea. For large chunks of it, their role has been that of the comic sub-plot. The Blues were there to provide a few moments of light relief; in contrast to the serious, sinew-stretching tension at the very top of the Premier League table. They have even provided more hilarity than Manchester United.
But people have stopped laughing – this is one blue joke that isn’t funny anymore.
‘There will be no stifling, soulless, nation-backed domination of an entire sport this year.’
Now, while their victory over Everton on Monday night may not have been hugely surprising, the 6-0 scoreline was – Chelsea had somehow drawn with Sheffield United in their previous game, after all. But it is the form of one player that is almost single-handedly changing the overall perception of this Chelsea campaign; causing the chuckles to dry up.
Cole Palmer is on fire. Regardless of what has been going on around him over the course of the season, he has looked the business – regularly providing confidence, composure and threat. His late goals against Manchester United two weeks ago quickly transmogrified 0 points into 3; and if Chelsea win their game in hand, they will move ahead of the Red Devils in the table. And who will have to wear the clown face-paint then?
With 20 goals to his name, Palmer is now the division’s joint top-scorer; a position he shares with the marksman he will oppose on Saturday afternoon, Erling Haaland. But while their Premier League tallies are identical, their current trajectories couldn’t be more divergent.
Haaland has stalled. The irrepressible, multi-faceted battering ram has become merely a blunt instrument. Subbed-off against Real Madrid (at his own request, apparently) – despite the distinct possibility of penalties – it seems, at times, that even Scott Carson is more involved in what’s happening on the pitch than the Norwegian.
Chelsea’s results against the Sky Blues this season – a 4-4 draw back in November, and a 1-1 draw in February – should also cause concern for Manchester City. When the Boehly project has looked like it is about to spontaneously self-combust; when fans have sung maudlin hymns for the consistency of the Jose Mourinho era, the City match-ups have shown that there might the kernel of something worth persevering with at Stamford Bridge.
Pep Guardiola’s teams tend not to take opponents lightly, but after their emotionally deflating, strength-wrecking epic against Real Madrid, they will need to be particularly wary on Saturday.
Is a Cole-fired Chelsea ready to go nuclear on the oil-backed City? Could the Wythenshawe lad again bring-out the ‘goosebump’ celebration and remind the Mancunian club what a hot striker looks like? Palmer, of course, was let go from The Etihad because he was unlikely to ever overtake Haaland; well, now he is running right alongside him…
A Cole-powered future for Chelsea, then; and also, perhaps, for England – Gareth Southgate is another manager who is sure to be impressed by Palmer’s talent, as well as his ice-cold penalty taking. Does a summer of shivers await?
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