Pep Guardiola’s City are odds-on favourites to prevail at Chelsea’s expense at Wembley, however, the Cityzens have already toiled twice against Pochettino’s temperamental Blues this term and on the evidence, match result markets might be best avoided.

A counter-attacking blueprint allowed Chelsea to earn a share of the spoils in each of their two Premier League encounters with Manchester City this season and a similar approach could allow the Blues to play the role of unsettling underdogs again on Saturday.

Chelsea – who are unbeaten in eight games – clocked a combined 3.50 in xGF across their two top-tier tussles with City either side of Christmas and conceded 4.50 xGA in return, and if they can avoid the kind of stifling stage fright that saw them lose on their last visit to Wembley against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup Final, the Blues should be competitive again.

City’s taxing test against Real Madrid on Wednesday evening, which went through extra time and onto penalties, should also have a sapping effect on energy levels in their ranks, further reducing the gap between themselves and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium.

It makes sense to back both teams to score for the third straight encounter between the teams with those factors aligned, which over 2.5 goals is another attractive option to consider.

Chelsea’s last eight fixtures averaged a staggering 4.80 goals per game and chaos could rein again in Saturday’s showpiece showdown. The wide-open Blues only seem to have one setting at the moment, so expect another end-to-ender in the capital.

With Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland both withdrawn early in midweek with injuries, Pep Guardiola could make changes to his front six in a bid to keep his team fresh on Saturday, though Phil Foden’s form makes him almost undroppable and the England star is likely to retain his place in the XI.

Foden registered one accurate shot and six attempts overall against Real Madrid in midweek and the silky attacking midfielder has hit the target with at least one effort in nine of his last 12 appearances for City in all competitions.

The 23-year-old managed to muster six shots across City’s two Premier League skirmishes with Chelsea earlier this season, so expect him to be in the thick of the action again on Saturday. Foden is available at an attractive price to hit 1+ shots on target this weekend, while his ex-teammate, Cole Palmer, also catches the eye in the same bracket (1.50).

Former City starlet Palmer has been putting in some virtuoso performances for Chelsea since the beginning of March and the talented 21-year-old technician lodged at least one shot on target in each of his last seven appearances and at least two shots on target in five of the same games.

The supremely confident Palmer, who has chipped in with an incredible 15 goal contributions, including two hattricks, in his last seven starts, is keenly priced to score or assist again on Saturday.

Unsurprisingly, when Manchester City and Chelsea last met in February, the Cityzens were the dominant force in terms of possession (70.4% to 29.6%) and their stranglehold on proceedings allowed them to win a massive 12 corners to the Londoners’ one.

Ball-hungry City are virtually certain to set the tempo again in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final, so another hefty corner count could be in the works for the holders again.

City have been winning corners at a rate of 7.78 per game in the Premier League this season, making them the division’s most prolific outfit for that metric and backing them to win six or more corners again this weekend in the cup should be a safe inclusion.

Siding with City in the overall corner battle stakes is also an option with enough value to be viable. City rarely come out on the wrong side of the final corner count in fixtures and Chelsea managed to win just four corners combined against them in the teams’ two Premier League fixtures earlier this season.

The aggregate corner count from Man City’s last five meetings with Chelsea overall was 39-16 in the Cityzens’ favour, so back Pep Guardiola’s outfit to come out on top again.

There was plenty of needle in both of Man City’s Premier League scuffles with Chelsea in the campaign’s middle third, with nine cards shown to the players involved at Stamford Bridge in November and another four shown in the rematch at The Etihad Stadium in February.

With a place in the FA Cup Final at stake, tensions should be just as high in Saturday’s semi-final, so expect to see numerous niggly fouls interspersed with heavy challenges from the combatants on show as well as at least three cards shown again.

In the fouls arena, serially-fouling Chelsea pair and bet-builder favourites, Conor Gallagher and Moses, are again the players with the most potential to deliver.

Chelsea captain Gallagher committed two and five fouls respectively in the Blues’ league meetings with Man City earlier in the season, whilst Caicedo gave away three free kicks in each fixture.

The midfielders also rank in positions one and two at Chelsea for average fouls committed per Premier League game this term (Gallagher 2.20, Caicedo 1.50), so expect both to rack up the challenges against City again on Saturday.