In a massive three days, Chelsea and Leicester City will compete for FA Cup honours on Sunday before meeting again in a do-or-die Premier League clash on Wednesday, with top four on the line.
Thomas Tuchel will be looking for a first Chelsea trophy and a healthy shot in the arm before the Champions League final in two weeks, while Brendan Rodgers is aiming to bring silverware to his success in two full seasons with the Foxes.
The Blues dumped City out of the competition in the semi-finals while Leicester went through Southampton in the last four having beaten Manchester United in the previous round.
Chelsea will be sweating on the fitness of a number of players, including former Leicester man and star midfielder N’Golo Kante.
Tuchel confirmed the Frenchman missed Wednesday night’s loss to Arsenal due to Achilles soreness, but the German is hoping to have him fit and ready to play.
The Blues boss has already confirmed Kepa Arrizabalaga will start in goal, but the back three in front of him is a little less certain.
Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen both missed the meeting with the Gunners and face a late test to be passed fit. The former is more likely than the latter, and should join Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta at the back.
This fixture could come too soon for Mateo Kovacic as well, the Croatian not having played since a win at Crystal Palace over a month ago.
Billy Gilmour made a rare start against Arsenal, but will likely drop to the bench to make way for Kante who should be fine to pair with Jorginho in midfield.
Reece James and Marcos Alonso could take up the wing-back positions, with Mason Mount, Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner comprising the front three, though the likes of Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic will be waiting in the wings.
For Leicester, Jonny Evans hasn’t played since he scored against Southampton two weeks ago but Rodgers is confident of the 33-year-old taking part in the final.
He should join Wesley Fofana and Caglar Soyuncu, another recent Foxes goalscorer, in Leicester’s own back three formation.
They will likely be protected by Wilfred Ndidi and Youri Tielemans with James Maddison just ahead of them in midfield, Timothy Castagne to the left and Ricardo Pereira on the right.
That leaves Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho to partner each other up top again. The duo could hardly be in more different goalscoring form – Iheanacho has scored an incredible 15 goals in his last 17 games, Vardy has just two in 24.
All is set for another big day at Wembley, with both sides out to make a habit of taking part in more of these occasions in the future.
Predicted XIs: Chelsea vs Leicester City
