Manchester City v Chelsea: FA Cup third round – live

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26 min Although it was on the other side of the field, Mahrez’s goal was a little reminiscent of Lionel Messi’s free-kick against Liverpool, which took a slight deflection off Joe Gomez but was still a belter.

Mahrez whipped a lovely free-kick that took a slight deflection, I think off the head of Gallagher, and flashed past the flying Kepa at the near post. It was a beautiful strike, and though I’d like to see a few replays to be sure, I’m not sure the deflection made that much difference.

GOAL! Man City 1-0 Chelsea (Mahrez 23)

Riyad Mahrez scores against Chelsea for the third time this season!

23 min Now City have a free-kick 25 yards from goal, a little to the right of centre, after Hall is penalised for a foul on look I didn’t see who it was okay.

22 min In fact, Gomez accidentally clipped Ziyech’s trailing leg, so it was a foul. The reason VAR didn’t intervene is that the ball was bouncing through to the keeper, so Gomez didn’t deny a clear goalscoring opportunity.

21 min A long ball forward is too heavy for Ziyech, who goes down on the edge of the area after a challenge from behind by Gomez. He thought he was fouled; the referee disagreed. We haven’t seen a replay, but it looked like Gomez fell into Ziyech and knocked him over; that said, I don’t think Ziyech was getting the ball either way.

19 min: Chance for Palmer! Laporte clips a simple pass over the top for Palmer, who runs inside Chalobah and through on goal in the inside-left channel. Palmer slides a languid low shot through Kepa’s legs and into the side netting. The referee gave a corner but I’m not sure Kepa saved it.

17 min City’s tempo is slightly too slow – not as bad as in the first half at Stamford Bridge, but not as good as in the second.

16 min Chelsea play superbly through midfield on the left, but Mount takes a split-second too long on the ball and is crowded out.

14 min City are having all of the ball, but so far Chelsea – who have packed the centre of midfield - have been able to keep them at arms’ length.

12 min It’s been a fairly cagey start, same as in the league game on Thursday. Gomez’s sharp cutback ricochets around the area before Foden hooks an inventive effort over his shoulder just wide. By then the referee had blown for something or other.

10 min Mahrez moves elegantly away from Hall, gets to the byline and slides a low cross that is well claimed by Kepa with Alvarez waiting behind him.

10 min These are the revised formations.

Man City (4-1-2-3) Ortega Moreno; Walker, Akanji, Laporte, Gomez; Rodri; Bernardo, Foden; Mahrez, Alvarez, Palmer.

Chelsea (4-3-2-1) Kepa; Chalobah, Humphreys, Koulibaly, Hall; Gallagher, Jorginho, Kovacic; Ziyech, Mount; Havertz.

8 min Havertz leaves a bit on Rodri and is fortunate to avoid a yellow card. Ortega Moreno played a short pass into Rodri, and Havertz plunged his studs into Rodri’s foot without really trying to play the ball. Anyway, he’s fine.

6 min Actually, Mount and Ziyech are interchanging quite a lot, and at times the Chelsea formation looks more like 4-3-2-1 than 4-2-3-1. I do love tactics. Nothing much is happening on the field, hence this gentle meander up my own fundament.

4 min Palmer and Foden combined nicely down the left before Palmer’s cross is blocked by Chalobah. I’m trying to work out Chelsea’s attacking system – it looks like Gallagher is playing wide right with Mount as the No10 and Ziyech roaming from the left.

2 min Right, tactics. Bashir Humphreys has started at centre-back, with Trevor Chalobah playing at right-back, and Humphreys’ first contribution is to calmly dispossess Bernardo Silva near the byline.

1 min Peep peep! Chelsea, specifically Kai Havertz, kick off from right to left as we watch.

The players gather round the centre circle to pay tribute to Gianluca Vialli. Don’t count the years in his life; remember the life in his years.

A reminder of the teams

Man City (4-1-2-3) Ortega Moreno; Walker, Akanji, Laporte, Gomez; Rodri; Bernardo, Foden; Mahrez, Alvarez, Palmer.
Substitutes: Ederson, Phillips, Stones, Ake, Cancelo, Gundogan, Haaland, De Bruyne, Lewis.

Chelsea (possible 4-2-3-1) Kepa; Chalobah, Koulibaly, Humphreys, Hall; Jorginho, Kovacic; Ziyech, Gallagher, Mount; Havertz.
Substitutes: Bettinelli, Azpilicueta, Badiashile, Cucurella, Thiago Silva, Chukwuemeka, Zakaria, Hutchinson, D Fofana.

The players are ready for business. It looks a grim, dank day in Manchester, perfect for a sliding header.

GP speaks

Today’s winners* will play … at home to Oxford or Arsenal in the fourth round

* Or the winners of the replay if they draw today

If they really want to pay tribute, one of them should score a sliding header today.

The draw for the fourth round is taking place as we spake

Rome wasn’t built in 140 characters

He’s on the bench again today

Football lost a bit of the twinkle in its eye on Friday, when Gianluca Vialli died aged 58. He wasn’t quite the man who started the Chelsea revolution – but he did accelerate it, winning three major cup competitions in as many seasons and making them credible Premier League challengers for the first time.

In 1998-99 they lost only three games and still finished third behind Manchester United and Arsenal. Vialli also took Chelsea to a Champions League quarter-final, when they came within a few minutes of eliminating Barcelona. More than all of that, he made the world a lighter, happier place.

Team news

Seven changes for City, six for Chelsea. Notable starters include Julian Alvarez, Cole Palmer and Aymeric Laporte for City, and the teenagers Bashir Humphreys and Lewis Hall for Chelsea.

The return from injury of Mason Mount means that Chelsea are now only without nine senior plyaers. Two of their new signings, Benoit Badiashile and Datro Fofana, are among the substitutes; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the sub who was subbed against City on Thurusday, is not.

Man City (4-1-2-3) Ortega Moreno; Walker, Akanji, Laporte, Gomez; Rodri; Bernardo, Foden; Mahrez, Alvarez, Palmer.
Substitutes: Ederson, Phillips, Stones, Ake, Cancelo, Gundogan, Haaland, De Bruyne, Lewis.

Chelsea (possible 4-2-3-1) Kepa; Humphreys, Chalobah, Koulibaly, Hall; Jorginho, Kovacic; Ziyech, Gallagher, Mount; Havertz.
Substitutes: Bettinelli, Azpilicueta, Badiashile, Cucurella, Thiago Silva, Chukwuemeka, Zakaria, Hutchinson, D Fofana.

Referee Robert Jones.

Preamble

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Manchester City v Chelsea at the Etihad. It’s the tie of the FA Cup third round, a plumdinger between two teams who contested the Champions League final 18 months ago. The good news for both is that one of them will end a losing streak today. The bad news is that they’ll do it by losing.

To explain. In each of the last three seasons, City have been knocked out of hte FA Cup in the semi-finals. Chelsea have gone one worse by losing the last three finals, a unique and unwelcome achievement. For one of them, the streak ends today.

If it’s Chelsea – full disclosure, it’s not beyond the realms – the bizarre pressure on Graham Potter will intensify. As if a grotesque injury list wasn’t bad enough, he has drawn City in both cup competitions and had to play them in the league the other day as well.

I was going to say that the FA Cup is Chelsea’s last realistic chance of winning a trophy this season; then I remembered how bad their form was before they won the Champions League in 2012 and 2021. Still, it’s probably their best chance, certainly if they get through today.

Chelsea owned this competition between 2006-12, winning it four times in six seasons, but they’ve only won it once in the last decade. City’s bid for world domination really got going when they beat Stoke in the 2011 final to win their first major trophy in 35 years. Since then they’ve only won it once, when they plugged Watford 6-0 to complete a slightly forgotten domestic Treble in 2018-19.

Under Pep Guardiola, and Manuel Pellegrini for that matter, City have been more of a Carabao Cup team. It’s not their biggest priority this year – RB Leipzig away on 22 February – but they wouldn’t say no to a bit of trophy-lifting action at Wembley in June. Yep, June.

Kick off 4.30pm.