Pellegrini To Field Strong Ciy Side Against Chelsea
“For me always the priority is the next game but we must make an exception now because of so many injuries”.
Hazard’s place in Chelsea’s starting XI could be in doubt for Sunday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie with Manchester City, when John Terry will again be absent with a hamstring injury. “I am here in the interim period and the people who are not responsible for the every day, every week stuff and games, they have the longer vision of what is the need of this club, they are in charge to do that”, he said.
“I will make hardly any changes because we take the FA Cup very seriously”.
He said: “I’ve known Willian for several years and he is gifted with talent”.
Hiddink’s record has been great since his return to Stamford Bridge but his unbeaten record was broken in the week when they travelled to Paris to take on a great Paris Saint-Germain side.
“This is trying to get the best out of the players. If you fly back from Abu Dhabi, you get here three hours early”. But I said a couple of weeks ago if you want to protect the English team in the Champions League the game was played on Saturday.
“I hope he will step up as soon as possible”. City and Chelsea have been drawn together five times in the FA Cup with the Citizens winning four and losing just one. But the situation eventually becomes impossible. Alex Ferguson regularly put out weakened sides in the domestic competition.
City has not lost an away game in the FA Cup for six years, but that record might just be broken due to absence of a number of senior players. What is a manager in his last season at a club supposed to do?
Pellegrini’s side then travel to Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League on Wednesday before facing Liverpool in the Capital One Cup final on February 28.
“We are very interested in continuing in this Cup”, he said.
“I hope next weekend he will be available but I can not predict it. I think we have to be a bit cautious with him as well”, the Dutchman added. Which is actually fair enough.
Guus Hiddink knows the feeling of climbing the Wembley stairs and lifting the FA Cup trophy after leading the Blues to victory in the 2009 final. They also won it in 2010 and 2012.
“And in every other league they try to help teams that are in the Champions League”.
Not that a wily old bird like Pellegrini is taking anything for granted.
“In the last two games that we played, maybe the second half of Tottenham we played better”. We are now climbing the table, that was the first target.