Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea Review

FA Cup Final

Twenty trophies in the last ten years under Pep Guardiola. Antoine Semenyo has come from playing for Newport County in this competition to scoring the winner in the final for Manchester City. The new signings now have two trophies under their belt. It wasn’t the most entertaining game, probably the worst performance across the last three finals, but in the end, they found a way over the line.

MOTM: MARC GUEHI

Marc Guehi made the joint most defensive actions along with Khusanov. Had the most touches (107), passes completed (84), and passes into the final third (13). 4/4 ground duels won. 3/4 aerial duels won. He’s now won back-to-back FA Cups with two different teams. Has completed more full 90s (17) than Gvardiol (16) this season. In a short space of time established himself as a starter at Manchester City for years to come. The level of competition among the central defenders is now back to what we saw in the 22/23 season, if not higher.

Notable Stats:

• Antoine Semenyo has scored 10 goals in all competitions for both Bournemouth and Manchester City this season. The only other player to achieve that for two Premier League clubs in a season is Andrew Cole in 1994-95 for Newcastle (15) and Man Utd (12).

• Pep Guardiola has won 85% of his matches in the FA Cup (46 wins in 54 games). That is the best win ratio of any manager to take charge of 10+ games in the competition's history.

• Antoine Semenyo's goal today was his 20th of the season - the most ever by a Ghanaian for a Premier League team in all competitions in one season, overtaking Tony Yeboah's 19 in 1995-96 for Leeds.

• Pep Guardiola is the first-ever manager to win 3+ English league titles (6), 3+ European Cup/Champions League titles (3), 3+ English FA Cups (3), and 3+ English League Cups (5).

Game Stats:

Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea

• xG: 1.41 - 0.49

• xThreat: 1.24 - 1.36

• Possession: 55.2% - 44.8%

• Field Tilt: 66.9% - 33.1%

• Penalty Box Shots: 7 - 5

• Deep Entries: 16 - 9

• PPDA: 11.7 - 12.0

• High Turnovers: 6 - 6

Manchester City has won 9 of the last 10 games across all competitions.

Antoine Semenyo (1,908) has now played more minutes for Manchester City this season than Josko Gvardiol (1,854).

Erling Haaland (4,054) is the first player to cross the 4,000+ minutes mark across all competitions this season. Next to join him will be Nico O'Reilly (3,954) and Matheus Nunes (3,925).

Rico Lewis, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Max Alleyne, Josko Gvardiol, and Nico Gonzalez were not in the squad against Chelsea (FA).

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

Strong lineup from Pep Guardiola, as we expected after the rotation against Crystal Palace midweek, but the surprise was Omar Marmoush, no Cherki or Foden. Back three with Rodri in front, as the base of the team in possession. Bernardo is free to move across the pitch and support. Doku and Semenyo holding the width on either side.

I’d suspect that the plan involved having options to play over the high press, the work Marmoush is usually able to offer off the ball, and that he’s able to make runs in behind. That was the space City wanted to target, but the setup with a back five made it very difficult, at the expense of limiting their threat on the ball, and led to an uneventful first half. That selection did not pay off.

Four early shots from Manchester City in the opening ten minutes, two blocked, one missed, and one saved, but after that, they struggle to put Chelsea under significant pressure and create big chances. Despite the possession (59%). Haaland had the best chance (43’) after Marc Guehi played him through, with his shot at the near-post saved.

The back three of Chelsea, struggling to access those spaces in behind, and Doku being doubled up on, as well as Palmer getting back to support, made it difficult for Manchester City.

Rayan Cherki came on for Omar Marmoush at halftime. Although they had the plan to have Marmoush making runs behind the Chelsea backline as Haaland dropped, they weren’t able to threaten enough, and Cherki is going to be more threatening receiving the ball, whilst Haaland can then be playing, making runs beyond. Neither was the back five of Chelsea making it easy for them to get in behind.

Off the ball, Marmoush and Semenyo didn’t do a good enough job of covering the space, which led to some openings for Levi Colwill to expose, through the lines, and get Chelsea up the pitch towards the end of the first half. Marmoush too tight to Caicedo, Semenyo to Hato, and that meant Fernandez is found in space behind them. That gave Chelsea the period of possession towards the end of the first half. So something needed to change.

Should note that although the likes of Palmer and Fernandez pulling wide gave Chelsea progression into the City half, they lacked the presence in the middle and 1v1 specialists to threaten once getting into good crossing positions out wide.

Cherki would then pull out to the right side, between Nunes and Semenyo, and that meant Cucurella needed to jump out further to cover him. Semenyo can pull Hato deeper, and more space would open up for Manchester City to attack.

Cherki is involved in an early chance, playing the ball out to O’Reilly before this cross, lofted to the back-post for Semenyo. Missing just over the crossbar. It’s a reminder as well of the chances the team can create more of next season. O’Reilly doesn’t make enough of these runs, and now with Semenyo in the side, he’s a threat in the air that Savinho and Bobb on the RW would not have been.

From the start of the second half, until Rodri came off, Chelsea had 150 touches to the 103 of Manchester City. Despite the early Semenyo chance, they were on top for that period, but were only able to get two shots off. Both from corners, and one due to Trafford’s punch being underhit and falling to Caicedo on the edge of the box.

If Chelsea was going to score, that was the period they needed to capitalize. From that point until the end of the game, it’s Manchester City leading Chelsea with 224 touches to 159. Rayan Cherki (36), Jeremy Doku (29), and Mateo Kovacic (28) are the most.

Mateo Kovacic came on for Rodri (65’), who was at this point looking like a player on his first game back from injury. Only completed a couple of progressive passes and hadn’t won a single duel. Fantastic clearance off the line after Trafford underhits his punch, but not close to the levels we saw before his injury.

He didn’t come on to dominate defensively, create chances, or provide much progression of the ball, but Kovacic was much more mobile and always available to receive, on either flank. Happy to sit deep in the LCB spot and allow O’Reilly more freedom to advance down the left with Jeremy Doku.

A. Semenyo (72') 0-1
You can see the baiting of Chelsea's press in the buildup to the winner from Khusanov and Nunes. Something Manchester City were trying to do throughout the match. In the beginning, Chelsea used a back five, which allowed them to always monitor this space and make it difficult to access. After they switched to a back four. If you can pull the front unit up and entice their midfield to jump, you’ll open up the space to get in behind.

Cucurella pushes up to cover Cherki. Hato tracks the drop of Semenyo. Now the backline of Chelsea is Colwill, Fofana, and Gusto. Haaland pins Colwill, and there is the space Guardiola is mentioned. Note on the opposite side, with O’Reilly arriving to support Doku, that’s a 2v2 if the ball is played to the opposite side quickly. These are the openings that weren’t there for the team in the first half.

Nunes drives the ball into Semenyo, dropping to hold it up and lay off for Cherki. Free after Cucurella left him. Now he can accelerate the play forward with a pass in behind for the run of Semenyo and Silva. Haaland occupies Colwill.

Cherki tries to drive through the ball for Semenyo running behind, but it's intercepted. Haaland reacts quickest to the loose ball, turning and passing it ahead for Silva to carry up the pitch, and then continuing his run.

It's worth noting the number of players pushing to get into the box. Doku, O'Reilly, Cherki, Semenyo, and Haaland. You've got to commit numbers to the box if you want to score against a back five.

Reverse pass from Silva that Haaland runs onto. Semenyo moves inside, with his back to Colwill, and can backheel the ball, crossed by Haaland, past Sanchez. For Erling Haaland, that's his 9th assist of the season, up to 46 goal contributions.

After that goal, Manchester City now has four players with 10+ goals across all competitions as Semenyo (10) joins the group with Foden (10), Cherki (10), and Haaland (37).

After the goal, Chelsea makes a change with Pedro Neto coming on for Cucurella (74’), with the winger better suited to attack down the left side. He had just returned from injury, otherwise likely starts the match. This did push Chelsea into a back four and open up even more space for Manchester City to get behind.

Fernandez (74’) misses a shot from a throw-in set piece, Delap misses a shot (90’+1) in injury time, and Neto has his shot blocked (90’+4), but there weren’t an overwhelming amount of changes for Chelsea following the Semeny goal. Even with adding another striker as Delap came on for Reece James (83’).

On the flipside, Manchester City had all the space to get behind, especially down the left side with Doku and O’Reilly, but they kept wasting the opportunities to kill the game, not working it well into shots, and in the end, it was only the Cherki effort (85’) that Sanchez had to save.

Cherki is the first one mentioned for this, but there are others who, when you watch the final twenty minutes of the game, you see, in a positive sense, how much more is to come from these players. To become killers and be efficient with the chances they get. Then you look at who's not involved, like Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol. The new guys are coming in the summer. The talented players on loan. We’ve arrived at base camp with the new cycle, but we’ve not started the real climb, and can’t even see the summit yet.

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Moving Forward

Now it’s on to Bournemouth, continuing the fight for the Premier League title until the final day against two top teams, and needing Arsenal to drop points. Regardless of how that plays out, to finish the season with two trophies, progress the team through a rebuild, and become a more stable and consistent team by the end of the season. It’s been a productive one. This group is best placed to win the title next season. Departing John Stones and Bernardo Silva have had the moments we’ve wanted to see in their final season.

You can see clearly on the graphic below the actions Matheus Nunes had to make against Chelsea, defending the touchline. He’s second in the Premier League this season for dribbles faced won (65.2%), a huge increase from last season (25%) when it comes to defending wingers 1v1 as a full-back.

You then add to this his back-post clearances, like the one to stop Cururella in the first half, and how he’s learned during the season to play as one of the wide central defenders in possession. Nunes has come a long way this season, was excellent in the FA Cup Final, and has become the starting right-back for Manchester City. Few people saw the physical qualities as an option in this position, but no one predicted this development throughout the season.

Guardiola did make a point of mentioning how badly he felt needing to leave six players out of the squad for the FA Cup Final. Nico Gonzalez, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Josko Gvardiol, Rico Lewis, Max Alleyne, and Sverre Nypan. Don’t be surprised if some of them depart this summer, and some are involved in the next game.

Next up for Manchester City is Bournemouth (A) on the 19th of May, after Arsenal plays Burnley on Monday night, and an opportunity to keep fighting for the Premier League title until the final day. The team spoke after the final about not having time to celebrate; the focus is on training and preparing for this fixture. Then onto Villa (H) after that.

This will be a big game for Antoine Semenyo, returning for the first time to play Bournemouth. We know well the group of starters at this point of the season, so I wouldn’t expect many changes, but I’d have an eye on Cherki and Foden to start. Gvardiol was impressive last week. The fitness of Rodri is up in the air. Donnarumma will return.

Bournemouth are currently on the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League with 17 games. In their last five games, they’ve beaten Arsenal (A), Newcastle (A), Crystal Palace (H), and Fulham (A). Along with drawing against Leeds (H). Heading into the Cup Final, I mentioned the quality Chelsea had despite the poor run of results. Bournemouth have both.

The Cherries do have an outside chance of making the Champions League by winning their final two games, and Brentford taking something off Liverpool in the final weekend. European football is all but secured for them now if Chelsea drops points to Spurs.

After Semenyo departed, Kroupi stepped up and led them in the PL for goals (12). Usually playing off Evanilson, he’s excellent at finding pockets of space in the box, drifting between the lines, and making delayed runs into the box that catch central defenders off guard. Rayan is another to mention, 5 goals since joining in January, as physical as a number nine, and the agility of a winger. It’ll be a big test for O’Reilly.