{"id":638698,"date":"2024-04-17T06:03:40","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T10:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=638698"},"modified":"2024-04-17T06:04:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T10:04:07","slug":"man-city-walker-ake-fa-cup-chelsea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/04\/17\/man-city-walker-ake-fa-cup-chelsea\/","title":{"rendered":"FA Cup Semi-Finals: Man City Handed Double Injury Boost Ahead of Chelsea Clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City pair Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake are both fit to play in this weekend\u2019s FA Cup match against Chelsea. The Citizens are expected to take on Chelsea with a full squad.<\/p>\n<h2>Two Man City Defenders Return From Injury<\/h2>\n<h3>Citizens Eyeing Back-To-Back Trebles<\/h3>\n<p>Man City claimed the Premier League\u2019s top spot after a 5-1 victory over Luton Town this weekend. Both Arsenal and Liverpool lost their games as Pep Guardiola\u2019s side made a huge step toward defending the league title.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/03\/22\/michael-owen-predicts-premier-league-winners\/\" target=\"_self\">\u2018Best Team In The World\u2019: Ex-Man Utd Player Backs Rivals To Win Premier League Title<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Winning a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uefa.com\/uefachampionsleague\/news\/0251-0e99b1ba85da-ec8053dc0a29-1000--who-has-won-a-treble-including-domestic-league-and-cup-tit\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">treble<\/a> is rare, but defending it is a feat that no club has ever pulled off. The Citizens still have a chance to do so this season, as they are still competing in both the FA Cup and the Champions League.<\/p>\n<p>Pep Guardiola\u2019s side are set to face Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals this weekend, looking to inch one step closer to winning their first major trophy of the season. Unlike their opponents, City could come into the game with a full squad.<\/p>\n<h3>Latest Updates on Walker and Ake<\/h3>\n<p>Kyle Walker has stayed out of action since suffering a hamstring injury during the international break last month. City have also played without Nathan Ake, who picked up a calf injury in their goalless draw against Arsenal on March 31. However, both players are expected to be available for the FA Cup semi-final match on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/04\/05\/manchester-city-liverpool-arsenal-chasing-history\/\" target=\"_self\">Citizens, Liverpool And Arsenal Are Chasing The Premier League Title<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Guardiola <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/IanCheeseman\/status\/1780203551735554048\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">confirmed<\/a> that both players have returned to team training this week.<br \/>\nAsked about Walker\u2019s chances of playing against Real Madrid on Wednesday, the manager said (via <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SkySportsNews\/status\/1780204369088012377\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sky Sports<\/a>): \u201cHe Trains good. He still feels something but feels good in his face and mood. I don\u2019t know from the beginning or bench but I think he\u2019ll be with us [against Real Madrid].\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Watch<\/strong>: Who Wins The Premier League?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"THREE WAY WAR - Who Wins The Premier League?\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6XQStPx9Lw0?start=5&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Chelsea Injury List for FA Cup Semi-Final<\/h3>\n<p>With Walker and Ake returning, the champions will have no players on the sidelines against Chelsea. However, things are different for the Blues, who have been struggling with fitness issues since the start of the season.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>:<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/04\/15\/chelsea-mykhailo-mudryk-contract-extension\/\" target=\"_self\"> Blues Give Surprising Contract Extension To \u2018Outstanding\u2019 Forward<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Last week, Chelsea added <strong>Enzo Fernandez<\/strong> and <strong>Axel Disasi<\/strong> to their already-bloated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chelseafc.com\/en\/news\/article\/chelsea-injury-update-ahead-of-everton-h\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">injury list<\/a>. Both players missed their side\u2019s 6-0 victory over Everton as they stayed \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1778745134617698590\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">under assessment<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Robert Sanchez<\/strong> and <strong>Raheem Sterling<\/strong> are out due to illness, while <strong>Christopher Nkunku<\/strong> (hamstring), <strong>Levi Colwill<\/strong> (toe), <strong>Romeo Lavia<\/strong> (thigh), <strong>Reece James<\/strong> (hamstring), <strong>Lesley Ugochukwu<\/strong> (hamstring) and <strong>Wesley Fofana<\/strong> (knee) are also expected to miss the FA Cup clash against Manchester City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City pair Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake are both fit to play in this weekend\u2019s FA Cup match against Chelsea. The Citizens are expected to take on Chelsea with a full squad. Two Man City Defenders Return From Injury Citizens Eyeing Back-To-Back Trebles Man City claimed the Premier League\u2019s top spot after a 5-1 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5073,"featured_media":637136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,11,1830,30,3],"tags":[288,1226],"class_list":["post-638698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-city","category-chelsea","category-injuries","category-news","category-premier-league","tag-kyle-walker","tag-nathan-ake"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}