Pochettino Talks Tough Ahead FA Cup Clash Against ‘Wounded’ Man City

Chelsea coach, Mauricio Pochettino, has warned his players to maintain discipline ahead of the FA Cup semi-final clash against Manchester City on Saturday at Wembley.

Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson were involved in a clash against Everton on Monday night with both players battling to play a penalty kick, which was eventually scored by Cole Palmer.

The former Tottenham manager said he has told the players not to repeat such an incident in the future.

Pochettino said: “I explained my feelings and in the future, it cannot happen like this.

“The message was clear, and now we need to move on. They are clever and understand the situation. In another way it’s good that a player wants to take responsibility for a penalty.

“But they need to respect discipline and the rules which are so important. The way they wanted to do things was in a very wrong way.”

Manchester City were involved in a Champions League clash against Real Madrid which lasted for 120 minutes before they lost via penalties, Pochettino believes the physical assertion can serve as an advantage for Chelsea.

He said: “We know very well, when you play 120 minutes in the Champions League, the effort is massive. And the emotional thing, it’s always not easy to recover after you lose,”

“Of course, it will be tough for them, like it will be for us. But we need to remember they have an unbelievable squad, they are showing in the last six-seven years how consistent they are playing under Pep’s philosophy.

“They are, if not the best, one of the best teams in the world in the last five, six, seven years.”

Chelsea are expected to welcome the trio of Raheem Sterling, Axel Disasi and Enzo Fernandez after they missed the 6-0 win over Everton due to injury and illness respectively.

Manchester City are unbeaten in their last eight matches against Chelsea in all competitions. Their last two league encounters ended in a 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge before another 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium.