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Manchester City logo
FA Cup | Fifth Round
Feb 15, 2014 at 5.15pm UK
 
Chelsea logo

2-0

Jovetic (16'), Nasri (67')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Live Commentary: Manchester City 2-0 Chelsea - as it happened

Relive Sports Mole's minute-by-minute report of Manchester City's 2-0 win at home to Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
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Manchester City booked their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday with a 2-0 victory at home to Chelsea.

The hosts made the breakthrough in the 16th minute when Stevan Jovetic showed plenty of composure to slide the ball past Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.

City then sealed the win with just over 20 minutes remaining as Samir Nasri came off the bench to tap in from close range.

Read Sports Mole's minute-by-minute report below to find out how all of the action unfolded at the Etihad Stadium.


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That's all from me for now but don't forget that you can keep up to date with all of the reaction from tonight's match right here on Sports Mole. Thanks for your company and we hope to see you again soon. Goodnight!

The full-time whistle goes and it's Man City who are into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup thanks to a 2-0 win over Chelsea. Stevan Jovetic put the hosts ahead in the 16th minute before Samir Nasri doubled their advantage into the second half. There can be no doubting that Manuel Pellegrini's side deserve their place in the next round.

FULL TIME: MAN CITY 2-0 CHELSEA

Four minutes of added time...

YELLOW CARD: Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic now goes into the book for bringing down Yaya Toure.

The visitors are starting to throw whatever they can at the Man City defence now, but the home side are not allowing anything past. Vincent Kompany has been a rock for City, while Lescott has also been superb at the back.

Chelsea win themselves a corner following a little bit of pressure in the Man City half, but Hazard's kick is cleared by Negredo. Meanwhile, Javi Garcia goes into the book. Time is running out for the visitors now.

SUBSTITUTION: Man City's last change sees Alvaro Negredo come on for Edin Dzeko. Ten minutes of normal time left to play at the Etihad Stadium.

The Man City players look like they're enjoying themselves now. Chelsea are buzzing around, trying to regain possession, while the hosts knock the ball about with a calm professionalism.

DISALLOWED GOAL! Man City think that they have a third through Joleon Lescott, but the linesman's flag is up. Garcia's header from a corner was saved by Cech, allowing Lescott to smash in the rebound. However, he was just a few inches in front of the last defender.

Just over 15 minutes to go and Chelsea are going to need something very special if they are to turn this tie around. They've been second best this evening, but a goal in the next 10 minutes or so would give them a glimmer of hope.

SUBSTITUTION: Chelsea's final swap of the evening sees Oscar come on for Willian.

SUBSTITUTION: David Silva now makes way for Man City as Jesus Navas enters the fray.

Samir Nasri is back with a bang, giving Man City a 2-0 lead and quite possible a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals! Nasri slid the ball into David Silva inside the box before the Spaniard squared it back to his teammate to tap in from close range. Clinical stuff from the hosts.

GOAL! MAN CITY 2-0 CHELSEA (NASRI)

YELLOW CARD: Man City midfielder Yaya Toure goes into the book now for a blatant trip on Nemanja Matic.



SUBSTITUTION: A change for Chelsea now as Ramires makes way for Fernando Torres. Man City also make a change, with Samir Nasri coming on for Stevan Jovetic.

YELLOW CARD: Steven Jovetic goes into the book for diving after a tussle with David Luiz. He's a very talented striker, but that was a very poor thing to do.

Chelsea win a free kick out on the right side that Willian whips in. It's not the best delivery, but it causes some confusion in the Man City box before the hosts manage to hoof it clear. It's difficult to tell where a Chelsea goal is going to come from at the moment. They're looking uninspired.

Man City threaten the Chelsea goal through Jovetic as the striker fires over from inside the box. Clichy and Dzeko played a lovely one-two before the former found Jovetic. The striker did well to create a little bit of space, but he could only shoot high into the stand.

It's been a decent start to the second half from Man City as they pin Chelsea back. The visitors have struggled to get out of their own half during the opening few minutes.

SECOND HALF UNDERWAY! The players are back out and it will be Chelsea to kick us off for the second half. The visitors have made a change, with Mohamed Salah replacing Samuel Eto'o.

Manuel Pellegrini is likely to be telling his players for more of the same in the second half, but it's possible that Jose Mourinho is giving his players a bit of an earful. The visitors really need to up their tempo if they want to get anything out of this match because they've been second best in pretty much every department so far.

UPDATE: We've already had two other fifth-round ties today, with Sunderland and Wigan Athletic both going through. Sunderland defeated Southampton 1-0 in the day's early kickoff, while holders Wigan stunned Cardiff City 2-1 in South Wales.

It would be fair to say that it wasn't the most heart-pounding 45 minutes in the world, but it's been a competitive affair so far. Man City deserve their lead, though Chelsea have shown flashes of danger.

The half-time whistle goes and it's Man City who go down the tunnel that little bit happier as they lead Chelsea 1-0 thanks to Stevan Jovetic's 16th-minute goal.

HALF TIME: MAN CITY 1-0 CHELSEA

One minute of added time at the end of the half...

CHANCE! Oh so close for Man City! Milner flew down the right wing before aiming a cross towards Dzeko, but the striker just couldn't stretch enough to get on the end of it. Meanwhile, David Luiz goes into the book for an earlier incident.

There are plenty of comparisons to be made between this game and the Premier League clash at the start of the month, but the most obvious difference is that Man City look far more at ease with themselves this evening. In contrast, Chelsea are nowhere near as well-drilled as they were a couple of weeks ago.

YELLOW CARD: Right on cue, Kompany goes into the book for cynically bringing down Hazard with Chelsea on the counter-attack. The defender will need to watch his step for the remainder of the match.

We're seeing something of a lull in this game at the moment as the two sides get their breath back. It must be said that Vincent Kompany has been very impressive for the hosts so far. He's been courageous in the tackle, not allowing Chelsea's tricky attack much time on the ball.

Despite Man City's lead, it's still a pretty even contest at the Etihad Stadium. Both teams continue to get forward, though that killer pass in the final third has been lacking.

A bit of confusion in the Chelsea area as Cech comes and totally misses a cross, but Cahill and Luiz are there to clear up the threat with Dzeko lurking.

WHOOSH! It's a good move from Chelsea, but Willian ruins it by shooting high over the crossbar. Ivanovic shows plenty of patience down the right before feeding his Brazilian teammate. However, Willian's first-time effort sails into the stand behind the goal.

CHANCE! It's all Man City at the moment as they nearly double their lead again. Dzeko tries to curl the ball into the far corner from about 25 yards, only to see Cech dive to his right and palm the shot away. That's a good save from the Chelsea shotstopper.

CHANCE! Close to a second goal for Man City as Toure creates some space on the edge of the box, but the Ivorian can only drag his shot wide of the far post with Cech beaten.

There's a bit more spice to this match now. Referee Phil Dowd has a few words with Yaya Toure after the Man City midfielder had a little tussle with Mikel. You can sense a bit more energy in the crowd as well following that opening goal. Hopefully it will cause Chelsea to come out of their shell a bit more.

No mistake from Stevan Jovetic there as he gives Man City the lead with a calm finish! Dzeko played in his teammate towards the right side of the penalty area, and the summer signing from Fiorentina was able to slide the ball past Cech and into the far corner.

GOAL! MAN CITY 1-0 CHELSEA (JOVETIC)

CHANCE! There we go! Toure does well to create some space for himself before seeing his 30-yard drive parried by Cech. Jovetic is there to mop up the rebound, but the striker can only float his effort over the crossbar.

It's all very cagey at the moment as the two teams cancel each other out. There isn't a great deal of space out there, particularly in midfield.

Now it's Man City who are seeing the momentum swing their way, though they've yet to test Cech in the Chelsea goal. There's an abundance of attacking talent that the hosts have at their disposal, but they know that they will have to do something special to get past Chelsea's solid defence.

It's Chelsea who are starting to look a bit more comfortable on the ball as they deprive Man City of possession. Hazard, Willian and Ramires are all passing the ball around crisply while light blue shirts swarm around them. Meanwhile, the Chelsea fans sing Jose Mourinho's name loud and proud.

It's been a fairly even start to the match, with both teams looking to get forward whenever they can. No early opportunities for either side as of yet.

KICKOFF! The teams are out, the pre-match handshakes have been done, and it will be Man City to get us underway. Here we go!

We're five minutes away from kickoff and the players are starting to emerge in the tunnel. There's a real sense of anticipation around the Etihad Stadium, particularly from the home fans. They see this as a great chance to avenge both of their team's defeats to Chelsea in the Premier League this season.



The Etihad Stadium is filling up nicely as we approach kickoff. The weather has been atrocious up and down the country over the past few days, but it's looking like a crisp clear night in Manchester.

PREDICTION TIME: Tonight's match is very hard to call, but we here at Sports Mole can see it ending 1-1, with the replay going to Stamford Bridge.

UPDATE: Speaking of Wigan, the holders are through to the quarter-finals thanks to a 2-1 win at Cardiff City. Chris McCann and Ben Watson got the goals for the Latics, while Fraizer Campbell replied for the hosts.

Of course, Man City reached last year's final before a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Wigan Athletic. They will be keen to erase those memories this season.

HEAD TO HEAD: This is the fifth time that these two sides have met in the FA Cup. It might come as a surprise, but Man City have the better head-to-head record with three wins to Chelsea's solitary triumph.

Pushing Pellegrini and Mourinho to one side for just a moment, both of these teams have a great pedigree in the FA Cup. Chelsea have won the competition a whopping seven times, while City have lifted the famous trophy on five occasions.

A lot of this beef came after Chelsea beat Man City 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium on February 3, ending City's 100% home record in the Premier League this season. It was the second time that Jose Mourinho's side beat their title rivals during the current campaign following a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge back in November.

Mourinho recently claimed that Man City midfielder Yaya Toure should have been banned for a kick on Ricky van Wolfswinkel, while he also insisted that Chelsea are a 'little horse' in the Premier League title race. Pellegrini has tried to play the moral high ground by playing down Mourinho's comments, though it is quite clear that the Portuguese is proving to be an annoyance.

There's also an interesting sub-plot to this match considering the recent war of words between Manuel Pellegrini and Jose Mourinho. Mourinho has tried desperately to annoy his Chilean counterpart, but Pellegrini has done his best to avoid the mind games.

Both of these teams are among the favourites to win this season's FA Cup, but only one can go through today. Awaiting the winner is a place in the quarter-finals. While Liverpool take on Arsenal tomorrow, it's hard to look past this match as the tie of the round.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho makes just the one change after seeing his side draw 1-1 at West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League on Tuesday. John Obi Mikel comes into the starting XI, while Oscar drops to the bench. Fernando Torres is also among the substitutes following a spell on the sidelines with a knee injury.

CHELSEA SUBS: Schwarzer, Cole, Lampard, Torres, Oscar, Schurrle, Salah

CHELSEA: Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Azpilicueta; Matic, Mikel, Hazard, Ramires, Willian; Eto'o

MAN CITY SUBS: Hart, Richards, Demichelis, Kolarov, Navas, Negredo, Nasri

Man City boss Manuel Pellegrini has made four changes to the side that drew 0-0 at Norwich City in the Premier League last weekend. Costel Pantilimon is given the nod in goal, while Joleon Lescott, Javi Garcia and Edin Dzeko are also selected.

MAN CITY: Pantilimon; Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy; Milner, Toure, Garcia, Silva; Jovetic, Dzeko

There is currently one other FA Cup fifth-round clash being played, with holders Wigan Athletic leading Cardiff City 2-1 at the Cardiff City Stadium. Meanwhile, Sunderland booked their place in the quarter-finals earlier today with a 1-0 victory over Southampton. Sheffield Wednesday's encounter with Charlton Athletic has been postponed due to the weather.

Hello there and welcome to Sports Mole's live text coverage of this evening's FA Cup fifth-round tie between Manchester City and Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. What a match this promises to be. Team news should be through shortly...

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Samir Nasri of Manchester City celebrates his team's second goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester City and Swansea City at Etihad Stadium on December 1, 2013
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