Palmer to haunt Pep and Co again?
Man City will start Saturday's semi-final as big favourites to make it back to Wembley to defend their FA Cup crown in May, but Chelsea will know that when you have Cole Palmer in your side, anything is possible.
Palmer comes into the tie against his old club in perhaps the best form of any player in the entire country after his perfect, first-half hat-trick helped Chelsea thrash Everton 6-0 on Monday Night Football - meaning the England forward has now scored hat-tricks in back-to-back games at Stamford Bridge.
Palmer's four goals in west London took his season tally to 25 in all competitions, 20 of which have come in the Premier League, a figure matched by only City's Erling Haaland, while only Newcastle's Alexander Isak has a superior goals-per-minute record in the top flight this campaign.
When you add in the 21-year-old's nine assists as well, then no other player has contributed more than his 29 Premier League goals for Mauricio Pochettino's struggling team this season, while in total, he has been involved in an astonishing 25 goals and 13 assists in just 41 games in total this campaign.
You can be sure, though, the twinkle-toed Manchester-born playmaker will be especially keen to add to those eye-catching numbers at the home of football this weekend against the team and manager who sold him to the Blues last summer.
Palmer has, of course, already inflicted pain on Pep Guardiola and City this season when demonstrating ice-cool nerves to convert a 90th-minute penalty to deny his old side all three points when they met in the league at the Bridge in November, one of nine spot kicks he has confidently dispatched so far this campaign.
But with both Palmer and Chelsea having raised their game in both previous meetings with the FA Cup holders this season, in start contrast to their other struggles, you wonder whether Pep may once again be left rueing his decision to sell Palmer come the full-time whistle on Saturday.
Richard Morgan
Will City's FA Cup semi-final vulnerability continue?
Man City are machine-like at this time of the season. Granite chin. Ruthless.
But not in FA Cup semi-finals under Pep Guardiola. This is always a fixture that causes them problems in that it falls bang in the middle of a hectic period of Champions League and Premier League matches where every game is so intense. And boy was that Real Madrid game intense on Wednesday.
Guardiola's side's record of winning just two of their six FA Cup semi-finals under his watch is mediocre. Arsenal have dispatched them twice in 2017 and 2020, Liverpool managed it in 2022 and Chelsea beat them 1-0 in 2021 to end their quadruple bid.
The victories they mustered came against Sheffield United last season when they were a Sky Bet Championship outfit and against Brighton when Chris Hughton was in charge, so not the dangerous and exciting Seagulls team of today.
When faced with elite opposition, City have shown vulnerability at this stage of this competition. Chelsea certainly have a puncher's chance