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Golden chance for City to slay Chelsea demons

This weekend’s FA Cup clashes offer two potentially scintillating Premier League battles. Manchester City take on Chelsea, the team that outplayed them last month, while Arsenal meet a marauding Liverpool, who thrashed them 5-1 only last week. Our EPL analyst Adrian Clarke (sports [at] mediacorp.com.sg) offers his take on how the matches will pan out.

This weekend’s FA Cup clashes offer two potentially scintillating Premier League battles. Manchester City take on Chelsea, the team that outplayed them last month, while Arsenal meet a marauding Liverpool, who thrashed them 5-1 only last week. Our EPL analyst Adrian Clarke (sports [at] mediacorp.com.sg) offers his take on how the matches will pan out.

MANCHESTER — Some managers share a bottle of red wine together. Others, simply a spot of cordial conversation.

Manuel Pellegrini and Jose Mourinho? They share hostilities.

The suave and sophisticated Chilean gaffer does not look like the kind of man to hold a grudge, but when it comes to the Portuguese upstart who took his job at Real Madrid four years ago, he is happy to make an exception. The dislike is very real, and very intense.

The Happy One has made a less-than-subtle point of trying to irk the Manchester City boss all season, claiming that City are too big, too rich, too spoilt to expect anything other than the Premier League crown at a canter. Little horses and big horses was the latest incarnation of the same, a long running dig which aims to heap pressure on Pellegrini, and deflect it from himself.

He may be coolness personified, but the City chief does not welcome the irritant chatterbox’s constant jibes. The next time you watch him being asked about Mourinho, just look at his face.

Pellegrini has never forgotten Mourinho’s smug declaration when asked what he would do if he (like Pellegrini) ended up being sacked less than a year into his job at the Santiago Bernabeu. “If they get rid of me, I won’t be going to coach Malaga (the club Pellegrini subsequently joined),” said the Real Madrid boss then.

“I will go to a big club in the Premier League or Serie A.”

Cocky? You bet. Confrontational? With Jose, who knows.

Peeved that he did not get offered the City or United jobs last summer, especially behind a former Malaga man, the Portuguese table-topper delighted in his side’s 1-0 win over the Light Blues earlier this month.

Despite what the scoreline suggests, it was a demolition of City by Chelsea. Had Chelsea’s performance earned them a 4-0 victory at the Etihad, Pellegrini and his players could have had few complaints.

From nine meetings with the South American as a manager, that made it seven wins for Mourinho, one draw and one defeat.

Stunned by the nature of that comprehensive loss, City’s players (and their boss) need a pick-me-up, and tonight’s FA Cup fifth round rematch with the Blues would be the perfect medicine for their bruised egos.

How will they approach it? Carefully, I would imagine. The last time out, they took Chelsea far too lightly.

Deploying Argentine liability Martin Demechelis in central midfield was a mistake, while playing an expansive 4-4-2 against one of the sharpest tactical brains the game has ever seen was another lax misjudgment.

Being duped into thinking they would “park the bus”, and falling into the trap of leaving themselves vulnerable to counter-attacks, were other obvious faux pas committed on a dark day for the club.

So, expect a more aggressive approach from City this time.

Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Alvaro Negredo are big, strong men; proud men. And they will not accept a second defeat within a fortnight without one hell of a scrap. They will be ready to go to war in Part Two of this battle.

Pre-match rumours suggest that Mourinho will tinker with his team for this one, prioritising his Premier League tilt over the glory of the world’s most famous cup competition. Given the depth at his disposal and his eagerness to undermine Pellegrini with a spot of mind games, that would be no surprise.

But even if he does rest and rotate, it should be crystal clear by now that you have to trust and respect Mourinho’s decisions in the big games. His mistakes are few and far between.

Pellegrini does not like the man but, as a coach, he has to respect him. Their head-to-head results demand it. However, this time, as long as his players are not frightened by the damage of their last defeat and, providing they adopt a more sensible approach, I sense he may just claim his revenge.

And if he does, the Chilean will savour it alone with a glass of red — and certainly no cordial post-match conversation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

TODAY’s EPL analyst Adrian Clarke is a former Arsenal midfielder who has played at every level of English football. Now an experienced sports journalist, he writes for many publications around the world. Follow him on Twitter @adrianjclarke.

LIVE ON TV:

Tonight:

Sunderland v Southampton (mio TV Ch111, 8.40pm)

Cardiff v Wigan (Ch111, 10.55pm)

Sheffield Wednesday v Charlton Athletic (Ch112, 10.55pm)

Tomorrow:

Man City v Chelsea (Ch111, 1.10am)

Everton v Swansea (Ch111, 9.25pm)

Arsenal v Liverpool (Ch111, 11.55pm)

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