London - Furious Manchester City have written to the FA to complain about the scheduling of their FA Cup tie with Chelsea.
The FA yesterday confirmed that the fifth-round clash at Stamford Bridge will take place at 4pm on February 21, the day before City fly to Ukraine for a Champions League tie in Kiev.
City had asked to play the game, which will be televised live by the BBC, on the Friday night after police in London ruled out the possibility of it being played on the Saturday.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini has already indicated that he will field an under-strength team. ‘I’m very worried,’ he said. ‘We will not play with our (full-strength) team, we will play with a young team.
‘We have to put Manchester City’s interests first and that is to play with the strongest team we can in the Champions League. It’s not the way I want it, but we need to prioritise.’
Daily Mail