Chelsea and Leicester City lock horns at Wembley this Saturday in the 140th FA Cup final, as the Blues aim to put some extra gloss on a fine campaign by adding a ninth FA Cup to their trophy cabinet, while the Foxes look to make history by becoming the first Leicester team to claim the prestigious prize.
Victory would be the perfect appetizer for Thomas Tuchel’s blue army as the west Londoners prepare for the grand stand all-English UEFA Champions League final showdown against Manchester City in two weeks time.
Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers’ charges will try to maintain their Champions League qualifying position in the Premier League standings that effectively have the Foxes needing to approach each of their remaining clashes for the season as Cup finals that carry massive importance, greatly influencing the bearing that the club will take for the next season.
Let’s get straight into our match preview!
FA Cup Final Preview
Saturday 15 May
Wembley Stadium
18:15
To Win (90 Mins)
Chelsea 19/20
Draw 5/2
Leicester City 28/10
To Lift Cup
Chelsea 5/10
Leicester City 16/10
Chelsea
Chelsea have been nothing short of astonishing since their transformation under German manager Tuchel who arrived just four short months ago.
Frank Lampard surely expected the team he built the previous season, which proudly boasted the likes of Cobham academy graduates such as Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Reece James, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Fikayo Tomori and Billy Gilmour, to gel coherently with his expensive new recruits during the second half of the season.
However, Tuchel has definitely surpassed all expectations “Super Frank” and every other Chelsea supporter had for this group of players.
The former Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain mentor has taken the Premier League by storm and is on course to break all sorts of records thanks to his German engineered tactics that have clearly proven to be superior to his competitors at this juncture.
The team has become defensively sound, something that was near unthinkable under Lampard, given the expansive way the highest-scoring midfielder in English history loved to play the game, that resonated onto his team.
Prior to hosting Arsenal, the Blues have impressively kept 18 clean sheets from Tuchel’s 25-game long tenure, highlighting the difference in approaches.
Also, top-notch talents like Antonio Rudiger, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante have cemented their claim to be a part of Tuchel’s long-term project after finding themselves out of favour under Lampard.
Ben Chilwell will face his former team in a powerful backline consisting of Thiago Silva, Rudiger, James and captain Cesar Azpilicueta in front of the most underrated signing of the previous window, Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
This foundation of the team should secure Chelsea another clean sheet which would leave Timo Werner and company needing just a goal to adorn the trophy with Royal Blue ribbons yet again.
Leicester City
Leicester City won the Premier League under Claudio Ranieri but since Rodgers’ arrival in 2019, the Northern Irishman has arguably been just as influential to the club, in his role of maintaining an elite level for the Foxes to stay at the top of the league and consistently compete with the traditional big-six.
Prior to Leicester making their midweek trip to Old Trafford, Rodgers has the most successful win rate (52.8%) in the club’s history.
Winning 56 times in 106 games deserves respect, especially since the level of opposition in my opinion is higher than Ranieri or Nigel Pearson’s time in England.
The Foxes recently failed to claim maximum points in the league over Southampton and Newcastle which has cast a huge shadow of doubt over Leicester’s chance to secure Champions League football next term.
Rodgers’ charges know how painful it could be after suffering a similar fate, surrendering their spot to Man United & Chelsea and won’t want to repeat the mistakes of last season.
In the same breath, Chelsea will also be disappointed to collect silver medals at Wembley again, after succumbing to Arsenal in last year’s FA Cup final.
Rodgers made controversial comments when he took charge of Liverpool, claiming that the Reds were a much bigger club that left a sour taste in the mouths of supporters, seeing as the London club gave Leicester’s boss his start in football management with their Under-18’s and Reserve sides.
A chance for revenge is on the cards for both sides. Considering Leicester’s 5-2 victory over Man City earlier this season and the FA Cup being synonymous with giant-killings, it wouldn’t surprise many if Leicester are the better side on the day, but it will take a monstrous effort to beat a team that is closely edging towards becoming the best team in the world with each passing week.
Route to the final:
Chelsea:
4-0 (H) – Morecambe
3-1 (H) – Luton Town
0-1 (A) – Barnsley
2-0 (H) – Sheffield United
1-0 (N) – Manchester City
Leicester City:
0-4 (A) – Stoke City
1-3 (A) – Brentford
1-0 (H) – Brighton
3-1 (H) – Manchester United
1-0 (N) – Southampton
Probable line-ups:
Chelsea: 3-4-2-1
Mendy; Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Rudiger; James, Kante, Mount, Chilwell; Werner, Pulisic; Havertz.
Leicester City: 3-5-2
Schmeichel; Castagne, Fofana, Evans; Pereira, Tielemans, Ndidi, Maddison, Albrighton; Iheanacho, Vardy.
Prediction: Chelsea (19/20)
If we look at the entirety of the season, Leicester have been a consistently solid team, although in current form, there’s only one winner in this contest for me. Unless Kasper Schmeichel channels his “inner-Mendy” and plays an absolute blinder in the Leicester goal to keep his team in the match, Chelsea should have too much quality to overcome the Foxes and take home the first piece of silverware of the Tuchel era.
Written by Bryan Naicker