Man City vs Chelsea LIVE commentary: Rivals meet for second time in four days in FA Cup with Blues forced to deal with injury issues – kick-off time, team news and talkSPORT coverage

Manchester City face Chelsea for the second time in four days as the Premier League rivals meet in the FA Cup Third Round. 

The Citizens came out 1-0 winners at Stamford Bridge in midweek to close the gap on top-flight leaders Arsenal to five points. 

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The two sides will now meet again on Sunday with Pep Guardiola’s team aiming to beat the Blues for the second time to kick off their cup campaign. 

Chelsea have continued their struggles since Graham Potter’s appointment and are now languishing down in tenth in the league. 

They will be hoping to turn their form around in the cup but will have to contend with many injury troubles, with Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic all picking up knocks this week. 

Manchester City vs Chelsea: talkSPORT coverage 

This FA Cup Third Round tie will be played on Sunday, February 8. 

Kick-off at the Etihad Stadium is scheduled for 4:30pm. 

talkSPORT will have live coverage of the game presented by Adrian Durham. 

Commentary will then come from Nigel Adderley and former England striker Dean Ashton. 

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

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Manchester City vs Chelsea: Team news 

City are expected to remain without Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte at the weekend while Julian Alvarez could start his first game since the World Cup.  

Rico Lewis could regain his starting spot over Joao Cancelo after impressing off the bench in the league meeting in midweek. 

As for Chelsea, their injury list gained another three key players on Thursday as Mount was ruled out pre-match before Sterling and Pulisic were forced off in the first half. 

They join N’Golo Kante, Wesley Fofana, Ben Chilwell, Reece James, Edouard Mendy, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Armando Broja on the sidelines. 

Manchester City vs Chelsea: What has been said? 

Graham Potter commented on losing three more key players after the defeat to City at Stamford Bridge. 

He said: “It is tough at the moment and certainly doesn’t make it any easier. I feel for the boys of course as it’s one of those times but we have to stick together.

“It was disappointing to lose the guys early on but the players that came onto the pitch gave everything and that’s all you can ask for.

“It’s too soon for an update. Raheem was with his first action of the game with a back heel and Christian had some contact on his knee so fingers crossed it’s not too bad.

“Mason Mount also had a kick yesterday in training, he’ll hopefully be okay for the weekend. I’ve never experienced anything like it but we just have to carry on.”

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Manchester City vs Chelsea: Match facts 

• Since the 2016-17 season when Pep Guardiola took charge of Man City for the first time, only Chelsea (27) have won more FA Cup games than the Citizens (24). Guardiola has never previously gone out at the earliest stage in a domestic cup competition in a season in his managerial career across the FA Cup, League Cup, DFB-Pokal and Copa del Rey (progressed 20/20).
• Chelsea have progressed from each of their last 24 FA Cup third round ties, stretching back to the 1998-99 season. This is the joint longest run of progressions from the third round, along with Man Utd between 1984-85 and 2008-09, although the Red Devils did not take part in the 1999-00 campaign after withdrawing to take part in the FIFA Club World Championship.
• Manchester City have already eliminated Chelsea from the League Cup this season, winning 2-0 in November. This could be the second consecutive season that Chelsea are knocked out of both the League Cup and FA Cup by the same team, losing in the final of both competitions to Liverpool in 2021-22.
• Chelsea have lost five of their last six away matches against Manchester City (W1) in all competitions. Their one win in that time was in May 2021 in the Premier League under Thomas Tuchel, a 2-1 victory.
• This is the eighth meeting between Manchester City and Chelsea in the FA Cup – the Citizens have won four and the Blues have won three of those ties, including each of the last two (5-1 in 2015-16 fifth round, 1-0 in the 2020-21 semi-final).

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