Chelsea face Manchester City in the 2026 FA Cup final on Saturday at Wembley Stadium.
This is City's fourth consecutive appearance in the FA Cup final, but they have some records to set right, after losing their last two finals -- against Manchester United in 2024, and then Crystal Palace in 2025. This is City's third trip to Wembley this season, and they've won both the previous games at the national stadium, beating Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final and then registering a come-from-behind 2-1 win in the FA Cup semifinal against Southampton a few weeks ago.
For Chelsea, this is a game that will determine whether their season has been an unqualified failure, or if there is some hint of light at the end of what has been a long period of darkness for them. Their wretched Premier League form has seen them pick up just one point in their last seven league games, with that solitary point coming in an impressive performance for a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield last weekend.
Here's everything you need to know about the game.
How to watch:
The match will be shown on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, TNT Sports 1, and HBO Max in the UK, ESPN2 and ESPN+ in the U.S., SonyLiv in India and Optus Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Key Details:
Kick-off time: Saturday, May 16, at 3 p.m. BST (10 a.m. ET; 7:30 p.m. IST, and 12:00 a.m. AEST, Sunday).
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London
Referee: Darren England
VAR: Peter Bankes
Injury and Team News:
Manchester City
Josko Gvardiol, D: leg, OUT
Rodri, M: discomfort, DOUBT
Abdukodir Khusanov, D: knock, DOUBT
Chelsea
Robert Sánchez, G: concussion, DOUBT
Alejandro Garnacho, F: knock, DOUBT
Pedro Neto, F: knock, DOUBT
Estevao Willian, F: hamstring, OUT
Jamie Gittens, F: hamstring, OUT
Talking Points:
Man City start overwhelming favourites
Chelsea haven't won any of their last seven Premier League games. In that span, their only wins have come against Port Vale and Leeds United in the last two rounds of the FA Cup. City, on the other hand, have been excellent in the last few weeks, barring the slip up at Goodison Park, that looks like it could've cost them the Premier League title.
Even as they hope for a favour from either Burnley or Crystal Palace in the Premier League, City start this game as the favourites. Despite resting the likes of Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Rayan Cherki, they secured a comfortable 3-0 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Wednesday night to keep alive their outside chances of winning the title.
Can Chelsea find cheer at the end of disappointing season?
Mathematically, Chelsea are still in the running to qualify for European competition from the Premier League. However, they need a multitude of other results to go their way to make it to either the Europa League or the Conference League.
So the FA Cup final is Chelsea's clearest route to the Europa League. It won't be easy, particularly not in the form that they are in. However, they will take confidence from the way they played at Anfield and the returns from injury of both Levi Colwill and Reece James will be a further boost to Chelsea.
Rested City will prove tough to deal with
After putting out a much-changed team against Palace, Guardiola will revert to all his regulars for this final against Chelsea. That means Haaland, Doku, Cherki et al, will all return to the side. Rodri could return from injury too, but even if he is ruled out, his understudy Nico González was rested from the start against Palace, too.
For Chelsea to defeat this City side, they will have to deal with the full brunt of City's attack, especially the well-rested Doku and Haaland who have been among the goals regularly in recent games. City could not have placed themselves in a better situation heading into this final.
Can McFarlane inspire another big result against City?
Perhaps the headline result across Calum McFarlane's two spells in charge of Chelsea this season was the 1-1 draw against City in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium in January, when Enzo Fernández scored in second-half stoppage time to deny City all three points.
McFarlane found a system that worked for Chelsea against Liverpool last weekend, despite them not having any of their wingers in the squad available. Marc Cucurella was a difference-maker in an advanced role down the left, while Moisés Caicedo was excellent in midfield.
With none of their wingers likely to return before the final, it wouldn't be a surprise if McFarlane employs a similar system in this final as he heads into the biggest day of his career.
What do the numbers say?
Man City are the first team to play in four consecutive FA Cup Finals.
This is Chelsea's 17th FA Cup final, the third most after Manchester United (22) and Arsenal (21).
Manchester City haven't lost any of their last 13 games against Chelsea in all competitions, their longest unbeaten run against the Blues.
Manchester City have won 21 of their last 23 matches in the FA Cup.
Chelsea have scored 21 goals in the FA Cup this season, their joint-most in a single FA Cup season, alongside 2006-07.
Chelsea's last eight matches at Wembley have produced just seven goals in total.