Chelsea’s 2025-26 season began with great promise, riding high from our Club World Cup triumph. Champions of the World, don’t ya know! It’s been largely downhill ever since, with the club on track for a midtable finish and no Champions League football. There are more questions than answers around the team — are there any answers at all? — as we look to hit the reset button once again this summer.
So it’s ending rather badly … and yet, we could salvage something from it still. Winning the FA Cup would be significant on multiple levels. It would be our first win against Manchester City in a somewhat unfathomable 14 tries, since the 2021 Champions League final. It would be our first win in a domestic cup final in an even more unfathomable seven tries, since winning the 2018 FA Cup under Antonio Conte. We’ve lost three FA Cup and three League Cup finals since then. And of course it would grant us Europa League football for next year — not quite the Champions League, but certainly better than nothing.
City, who have already won the League Cup and could yet beat Arsenal to the league title, certainly won’t want to lose. We’re going to need to be at our best to have a chance, and probably need to get a bit lucky, too.
Can we pull off the upset?
Date / Time: Saturday, May 16, 2026, 15.00 BST; 10am EDT; 7:30pm IST
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London
Referee: Darren England (on pitch); Peter Bankes (VAR) — England was the VAR for that ridiculous Arsenal call against West Ham; maybe he hates City?
Forecast: Cool drizzle in the month of May because England
On TV: BBC One, TNT Sports 1 (UK); ESPN2 (USA); Sony TEN 2 (India); SuperSport MaXimo 2, Canal+ Sport 3 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: BBC iPlayer, discover+ (UK); ESPN Select (USA); Sony LIV (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Chelsea team news: Chelsea are the nominal home team for the match and there had been suggestions that we would wear next season’s home shirt as part of the viral marketing campaign that’s seen that shirt with the yellow accents turn up on the backs of Justin Rose and Noah Kahan. Alas, the official website has confirmed that it will just be this year’s shirt, which is less cool.
We do have some better news in terms of injuries, with both Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho available for selection after their recent knocks, and first-choice goalkeeper Robert Sánchez also our of concussion protocol and ready to play. Reece James and Levi Colwill came through Monday’s game unscathed and that’s great to see. Colwill especially made a huge difference in our backline; he should be starting as long as he can handle the workload so soon after returning from his ACL injury.
Interim head coach Calum McFarlane has only won one of his five games total in charge, but that was in the FA Cup, and he did also engineer the 1-1 draw at the Etihad back in January. The player seem to be more motivated to play for him than for Liam Rosenior, so if we can get a proper effort from them, we just might have a chance.
“Our recent form in the league has been way below the standard we’d expect and that we’d shown previously. It’s an FA Cup final, so we want to win it. It’s a massive competition, prestigious club’s got history in that competition as well, winning it eight times. [It] means a lot to all Chelsea fans. It’s a massive game and I hope we can put in a performance for all the fans.
“[The players] have got the belief they can beat anyone. We just know that we have to be the best version of ourselves. They’re an exceptional side, with an exceptional coach and exceptional players. They’re going to be a challenge, but we also have some really good players. These players have shown that if they’re at their best, they can beat anyone.”
-Calum McFarlane; source: Football.London
We’ve not seen the best of Chelsea much this season. Would be a great time for that quality and determination to actually show up.
Manchester City team news: It’s not been a vintage season from City, in what may yet be Pep Guardiola’s final season at the helm, but they have won one trophy already and, with any luck, could yet make theirs a domestic treble. Those are the sorts of levels we can only dream of operating at these days.
City rested most of their biggest hitters midweek, at least partially, as they dispatched Crystal Palace, 3-0. Erling Haaland and Nico O’Reilly didn’t have to lift a finger, while Rayan Cherki and Jérémy Doku were only called on as second-half subs, helping to spell the likes of Bernardo Silva and Matheus Nunes. While Chelsea have the advantage of not having played since Monday, City have the quality and depth to easily nullify that.
The one key absence for Pep Guardiola might be Rodri, who’s been dealing with a groin injury in the last few weeks. The all-important midfielder has traveled with the team, but his status remains questionable ahead of kickoff.
View from the enemy: Bitter and Blue
Previously: We used to consider new Wembley our second home, but Manchester City have now actually won more games there than we have, 16-to-15. So we could even our tally and break the aforementioned losing streaks at the same time as well. We showed back in January that we could at least hang with the would-be champions. I was there for that game in person, and had gone in with zero hopes and expectations. Enzo sent us back to the hotel happy; can we hope for something even better?
