Mauricio Pochettino warned his Chelsea players not to expect to come up against a vulnerable Manchester City side when the teams meet in Saturday바카라s FA Cup semi-final. (More Football News)
City go into the game off the back of playing extra time against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday night before eventually being knocked out on penalties, leaving less than 72 hours recovery time ahead of stepping out at Wembley.
Pep Guardiola has had to deal with fatigue amongst his ranks in recent weeks, with midfielder Rodri admitting to needing a rest earlier this month. He was subsequently left out of the team for last weekend바카라s win over Luton at the Etihad Stadium but returned to the starting XI for the defeat to Real.
They are still in contention to retain two of the three trophies they won last season, holding a two-point lead over Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League title race in addition to Saturday바카라s meeting with Pochettino바카라s side as they seek a third FA Cup triumph in six seasons.
Chelsea will return to the scene of their Carabao Cup final loss to Liverpool in February, after which they were heavily criticised for failing to overcome a Reds team decimated by injury.
Jurgen Klopp바카라s side triumphed in extra time despite finishing the game with four highly inexperienced academy graduates aged 21 or under on the pitch.
And Pochettino insisted there will be no easy ride for his players as City lick their European wounds.
바카라The good example is Liverpool,바카라 he said. 바카라People were talking about too many injured players, how many young kids they had playing. Look what happened after.
바카라From our point of view, we are going to compete against Manchester City. If you ask me about their situation, I can give my opinion, but we are not talking about that. We are going to compete against them.
바카라Today we were preparing, doing meetings, about the Manchester City that played against Real Madrid, that played against us in the Premier League.
바카라We are not talking about playing one (City line-up) or playing another. For me, the strength of Manchester City is that they keep the same idea and the same philosophy.
바카라In the last five, six, seven years, even with different players, they play in the same way, they have the structure to dominate and to create chances and to win games and to win trophies.
바카라I understand the situation is tough for them after playing 120 minutes in the Champions League. Emotionally, you expend a big energy. It바카라s about how they recover now.
바카라They are going be competitive and they have an amazing staff that look after the players. They바카라re going to put 11 players that will play with full energy to try and win the game.바카라
Pochettino will have Enzo Fernandez available for selection after he missed Monday바카라s 6-0 demolition of Everton.
The manager said the World Cup winner바카라s fitness will be carefully managed following reports this week in Argentina that he requires a hernia operation.
바카라We are not looking for heroes,바카라 said Pochettino.
