Caicedo Arsenal reprieve, Nkunku injury wait - 5 things spotted in Chelsea vs Man City

Chelsea's Wembley agony continued on Saturday evening as they slipped to a late 1-0 defeat against Man City in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Making just the one change from Monday's 6-0 win over Everton as Enzo Fernandez came into the team in place of Mykhailo Mudryk, Mauricio Pochettino's team started brightly and created a number of problems for their opponents.

City had chances of their own, notably Phil Foden rounding Djordje Petrovic but some impressive play from the goalkeeper forced the England international wide of the target. Seeing Nicolas Jackson pass up a great opportunity in the box, Cole Palmer then forced Stefan Ortega into a low save after finding some room to get a shot off on goal.

Chances kept coming Chelsea's way, with Ortega denying Jackson twice in quick succession shortly after the restart. The crucial breakthrough came in the 84th minute, however, as Bernardo Silva found the back of the net from close range after Petrovic could only divert Kevin De Bruyne's low cross into his path.

It once again meant even more heartache for Chelsea at Wembley as their opponents booked a date in May's FA Cup final. Here are five things we spotted in the game at the national stadium.

Nkunku wait

Chelsea delivered some positive news on the injury front on Friday after revealing that Christopher Nkunku had returned to partial team training at the club's Cobham base. Just unable to get going in his debut season in west London with injury leaving him in the treatment room for the vast majority of the campaign, the injury update gave Blues fans a glimmer of hope over a possible place in the Chelsea squad for the Frenchman against Man City on Saturday evening.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Pochettino said: "They assess him day by day and in the last few days he has the possibility to be involved in some parts of the training session. We now need to see the reaction of his body and see how he evolves. We hope he can be involved soon."

Unfortunately there was to be no place in the matchday 20 for Nkunku at Wembley Stadium. Always likely to be just too soon for him after only just returning to training, the attacker will be looking to make his comeback in what remains of the season. Chelsea fans are going to have to remain patient when it comes to the ex-RB Leipzig man taking to the pitch once again.

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The two sides to Jackson

Jackson was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons at the beginning of the week. Involved in an ugly penalty dispute with Noni Madueke and Palmer in the 6-0 triumph over Everton, the striker went into Saturday's game at Wembley intent on ensuring he was back in the news for all the right reasons this time.

Leading the line against last season's treble winners, the Senegalese ace caused big problems for Man City's backline in the opening exchanges as he held the ball up well and linked up with his teammates. It was excellent centre-forward play from the 22-year-old as he got the Blues moving upfield a number of times.

On the 30-minute mark, the summer signing passed up a huge opportunity to give Chelsea the lead as he was put clean through by Enzo but he elected to try and round Ortega rather than shoot. His decision allowed City's defenders to get back in time and his pass to the onrushing Palmer was duly cut out.

Amid his good build-up play, the player's finishing unfortunately lets himself down at times. That was the case shortly after the restart as he was played through by Conor Gallagher but saw his shot palmed away by Ortega, before then directing his header straight at the shot-stopper seconds later following Palmer's inch-perfect delivery.

Lucky Caicedo

Moises Caicedo is very much walking the disciplinary tightrope as Chelsea approach their 32nd Premier League game of the season. As per Premier League rules, any player earning 10 bookings from his side's first 32 Premier League matches will serve a two-match ban in the same competition.

Caicedo, along with Blues teammate Jackson, is on nine at present, with a yellow card in Tuesday's London derby showdown against Arsenal - Chelsea's 32nd Premier League game of the season - set to rule him out of the upcoming games against Aston Villa and Tottenham. The summer signing did see yellow in the FA Cup semi-final against Man City after pulling Jack Grealish back just outside the Chelsea area after the attacker played a one-two with De Bruyne.

Amid questions over whether or not his latest yellow card counts to his current total and if he will now serve a two-match ban for the Arsenal and Aston Villa games, the good news for Blues supporters is that yellow cards in the FA Cup do not carry across to the Premier League following a change in rules at the start of the 2019/20 season. Yellow cards are competition specific but it is worth pointing out that red cards do carry over.

The player was perhaps very lucky not to see red in the second half, which would have ruled him out against Arsenal, following a high challenge on Grealish that left the Man City star incensed. The ex-Aston Villa man had to be replaced not long after and he made his feelings perfectly clear to the match officials as he took his place on the substitutes' bench.

Caicedo now needs to avoid a caution at the Emirates in midweek to ensure he is good to go against Villa and Spurs.

Chelsea cause Man City problems again

Despite Chelsea's incredibly mixed form this campaign, the Blues have caused Man City a host of problems in all three of their meetings in 2023/24. Given City's might and Chelsea's inconsistencies, many would have Pep Guardiola's team down to run riot against the west London club.

That has just not been the case, though. Involved in a remarkable 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge in November, Chelsea were then very close to winning the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium in February.

Leading 1-0 thanks to Raheem Sterling's strike, Rodri restored parity seven minutes from time to deliver a cruel blow to Pochettino's side. It was once again a familiar story between the sides on Saturday as Chelsea took the game to the Premier League leaders and fashioned more than enough chances to win the contest.

Chelsea appear to have turned a bit of a corner under Pochettino of late but he needs to ensure that those levels are on show week in, week out as the club look to get back to competing at the top on a regular basis.

Wembley woes

Chelsea have a problem when it comes to scoring and winning at Wembley Stadium. Losing 1-0 in the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool in extra time back in February after the tie finished goalless in normal time, the Blues were also kept scoreless by the Reds in the 2022 FA Cup final.

Following a 0-0 draw, Jurgen Klopp's side came out on top and lifted the famous trophy after winning on penalties. The Blues once again couldn't find the net at Wembley on Saturday despite having a host of glorious opportunities to take the lead, thus allowing Silva to win it for City late on.

You have to go back to April 2022 for Chelsea's last goal at Wembley, which was scored by Mason Mount in a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Their latest defeat means that the club have now lost 10 of their last 13 games at the new Wembley.

It's something they will be determined to put right next season if Pochettino manages to guide them back to the national stadium.