The Blues midfield is lacking a key player, but they remain in good shape ahead of their clash at Wembley on Saturday evening 

Thomas Tuchel has ruled out Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen ahead of the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley against Manchester City on Saturday evening – but N’Golo Kante is available.

Chelsea will have everyone else available for the match with Kante fit despite concerns over his workload, after completing 90 minutes against Porto in midweek.

Pep Guardiola has confirmed that all his players except Sergio Aguero are fit but “tired” after their Champions League win over Dortmund on Wednesday. The west London club’s manager offered a similar update ahead of kick-off.

What was said?

“We have the green light for N’Golo because we had the three days in between, which makes a huge difference,” Tuchel said. “Mateo is unfortunately still out.

“He’s feeling better but still out and cannot be in the squad, and Andreas Christensen is out, he cannot be in the squad, so this is the situation.”

What should we expect from the semi-final?

Tuchel and Guardiola are known to have a positive relationship, having faced each other on several occasions in Germany.

The Blues boss has never beaten Guardiola but has managed Borussia Dortmund and Mainz against his Bayern Munich side in the past.

Tuchel spoke positively about Guardiola ahead of their first meeting in English football.

“He had a huge influence on me because when he was coach at Barcelona, I didn’t have the chance to know him personally, but I was watching almost every game,” Tuchel said.

“I was very impressed by the way they made success happen, by the style they were playing, all the academy guys, the offensive ball possession. What was maybe most impressive about this team was the mentality and how they defended when they lost the ball.

“I learned a lot watching the games, in understanding more of the game, how adventurous and how brave you can approach this game. So it was a big, big lesson. At this time, I was coaching the academy then becoming a coach at Mainz.

“So almost every match was a lesson in these days, and then later we had the opportunity to play against him, it was not always a pleasure. When you arrive on a certain level, it is, of course is a pleasure to play against him and to meet him at the highest level.

“We have to accept that there is a gap between Manchester City and us. If you look at the fixture in the Premier League and the fixtures in the last years, we have to accept this. It’s important that we accept this without making ourselves too small.

“So from next year on, from day one of next season, we will hunt them, we will try to close the gap between us. This is the benchmark. For me, in Europe, two teams are the benchmark and that’s Bayern Munich and Manchester City.”

source:- goal