Familiar foes confront each other in the FA Cup final this weekend as Manchester City, regulars in this fixture over recent years, take on Chelsea in the domestic game’s showpiece occasion at Wembley.These clubs collided in the 2018-19 Carabao Cup final at the same stadium, with City victorious on penalties, and memories are still relatively fresh from their 2020-21 Champions League final meeting, won by Chelsea. The game today (Saturday) will be the 10th time the two teams have faced off in this competition but, in its 145th edition, is actually the first of those to be in the final.Pep Guardiola’s City are in their fourth consecutive FA Cup final and are seeking to make amends for defeats in it to Manchester United in 2024 and Crystal Palace last season. For Chelsea, this is a chance to claim a first piece of domestic silverware in eight years and salvage something from a difficult campaign. It is also an eye-catching moment in the fledgling managerial career of the Londoners’ interim head coach Calum McFarlane.Our Manchester City correspondent Sam Lee and his Chelsea counterpart Cerys Jones discuss the key issues surrounding today’s game.What would winning the 2025-26 FA Cup mean to Manchester City?Sam Lee: This could be Guardiola’s final trophy in English football — or, indeed, club management — if he leaves City in the summer, so in that sense the stakes are huge. It looks like this season’s Premier League title has gone for them now, which is semi-palatable because it barely felt achievable for most of the season anyway, but City simply cannot lose the cup final and the title in its final weeks.As unbelievably successful as Guardiola’s time at City has been, ending with a cup final loss (which would be their third in a row) would be a real sickener. Ending with a domestic cup double and a strong showing in the league, however, would feel a more fitting send-off.This is also going to be the last chance at silverware in City colours for club legends Bernardo Silva and John Stones, who are definitely leaving this summer, and most likely for Nathan Ake, too. So this is a big, big game for many reasons.And what would silverware today mean to Chelsea in the context of their season?Cerys Jones: This is Chelsea’s last chance to salvage anything from a season that has drifted into obscurity. This was supposed to be the campaign where they built on Champions League qualification last season and the Club World Cup win in July; instead, they have regressed to the point where reaching any sort of European competition through the Premier League is unlikely.So winning a domestic cup for the first time since 2018 would be a great morale boost. More importantly, though, it would be a ticket into the 2026-27 Europa League. Aside from the financial benefits that would bring, it puts a very different complexion on next season.It would allow whoever takes over as permanent head coach to start with some positive momentum, and get to grips straight away with how their chosen approach works in a club competing in Europe and across the three domestic competitions — rather than having a ‘false start’ in a debut season with fewer fixtures, which is not a situation Chelsea want or expect to be in, long-term.An FA Cup final win would not render this season a success for Chelsea; it will still be remembered with a grimace. But it would at least give them one day in the sun, and more importantly, it would allow them to begin again in August with a sense of positive momentum.Chelsea have not won a domestic honour since the 2017-18 FA Cup (Ian Kington/AFP via Getty Images)Where can Chelsea look to frustrate or hurt City, realistically?Jones: Based on form, confidence, and recent experience of these occasions, it’s fair to expect City to control the tempo of this game. Chelsea are unlikely to dominate the ball, and they will have to spend more time defending than they are comfortable with. The sooner they reach that realisation and plan accordingly, the better.In the 1-1 draw between these two sides in Manchester in January, Chelsea showed that they are capable of frustrating City by staying disciplined and organised out of possession. Their best chances in this season’s two league meetings with City have come on the counter, but have been poorly executed; Chelsea really need extra attacking firepower to return from injury in Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho to help them progress the ball up the pitch rapidly and, most of all, they need Joao Pedro to be on form up front.The Brazilian can act as an outlet to relieve pressure, is a strong ball-carrier, and is this squad’s most clinical finisher by far.Are there any Chelsea players whom City could target in the summer window?Lee: City without Bernardo is hard to imagine, largely because he fully understands exactly what Guardiola wants on the pitch, and he can go out there and do it as well as anybody. Taking him out of the team, therefore, leaves a big hole. Unless, of course, Guardiola goes as well, and the new coach can try things in a completely different way.If Guardiola does step down, the likelihood is that Enzo Maresca (the former City assistant who was Chelsea head coach for the first half of this season) comes in, because City are looking for as much continuity as possible. In that sense, it does not help to lose Bernardo, but it does mean that Maresca can look at things with a fresh pair of eyes.City have been looking at Enzo Fernandez, and he would certainly add something completely different in the middle of the pitch. Elliot Anderson at Nottingham Forest is a major City target, but the interest in Fernandez is intriguing as it suggests they are continuing to recruit for the demands of the increasingly physical Premier League.The club are also monitoring a couple of other Chelsea players, too, so that could be something to keep an eye on.Enzo Fernandez has admirers at Manchester City (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)And which City player would Chelsea most like to sign?Jones: As The Athletic have reported, Chelsea have admired Marc Guehi in the past and were interested in signing him in January last year, but were put off by Crystal Palace’s asking price. If only Chelsea had had the opportunity to bring him on board before his stock was so high… by not selling him to Palace in summer 2021 after he came through their youth academy at Cobham, for example.Hindsight is always 20/20, but how much more solid could Chelsea’s defence have been this season if Guehi had been at the heart of it? We’ll never know.Chelsea also decided against pursuing a deal for Antoine Semenyo before he moved to City from Bournemouth in January this year. Based on their output over the current season, Semenyo or Jeremy Doku would be upgrades in the wide areas for any Premier League side, but Chelsea’s winger ranks are rather stuffed already.It would be a turn-up if it happened, but this summer they could do far worse than Bernardo. Chelsea need to add experience and maturity to the dressing room, and leadership to their midfield. Whether he would be interested in such a move, and how fans would feel about it, are of course different questions altogether.Manchester City’s Marc Guehi, left, and Bernardo Silva (Peter Powell/AFP via Getty Images)Which of these clubs values Enzo Maresca more?Lee: It certainly seems that the Chelsea players miss him, and the job he did over his season and a half is looking better and better with each passing week since he left, so he does appear to be very valued by Chelsea — or at least their players and perhaps fans.In terms of City, if he does come back to the club where he was under-23s manager and Guardiola’s assistant for a season, he would obviously be the man to follow an icon who has been in charge for a decade and changed everything at the club… which is not an easy act to follow. The Italian would, therefore, be tasked with keeping things ticking over, just as they were under one of the greatest managers of all time.Under Guardiola, City have been to Wembley a staggering 24 times for cup matches in the past 10 years. The standards are incredibly high and that suggests Maresca, if he returns this summer, will have a lot on his plate.Which club values Enzo Maresca more? (Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)Jones: There are certainly Chelsea fans who value the job Maresca did now more than when he was in charge.Given the chaos that has overtaken the second half of this season since his exit at New Year, it is quite easy to forget the problems they ran into in December and the frustrations with Maresca’s patient brand of football at times. Chelsea under his management were far from perfect, but it is clear that his departure had an impact on the dressing room and some of the players certainly seem to have valued him highly.Based on how Maresca’s time in west London ended, perhaps members of Chelsea’s hierarchy would not speak of him so highly, with the relationship between the parties becoming untenable by the end.Will Pep Guardiola and Calum McFarlane pick their strongest teams?Lee: The fact that City dropped points at Everton and that Arsenal then beat West Ham means that Guardiola is more likely to go big in this final. That was perhaps reflected in his midweek selection for the win against Crystal Palace in the Premier League, when Rayan Cherki, Erling Haaland and Doku started the match on the bench.Had City still retained a genuine hope of winning the league, rather than praying for an unlikely Arsenal slip-up against relegated Burnley or UEFA Conference League finalists Palace in their last two fixtures, then Guardiola would have probably made big changes at Wembley. But with a seventh Premier League title of his reign not quite so realistic now, City will almost certainly put a greater emphasis on winning the cup.Jeremy Doku and Erling Haaland were rested in midweek with the FA Cup final in mind (Julian Finney/Getty Images)Jones: Yes, because this is their best chance of European qualification, and their only chance of silverware this season. How interim coach McFarlane uses the options available is a more interesting question.With Estevao and Jamie Gittens definitely out and Neto and Garnacho doubtful, the attacking choices are severely hamstrung. If Neto and Garnacho are not back from their injuries, does McFarlane stick with the back-five formation that saw Marc Cucurella in a particularly advanced role against Liverpool last weekend? Playing that way earned them a point at Anfield, but is a departure from the shape that proved fairly successful at limiting hosts City in January (in McFarlane’s previous spell as interim coach) and might leave too much space for them to exploit.Chelsea should certainly be boosted by the presence of both Reece James and Levi Colwill. The latter returned from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury to play his first senior minutes of the season against Nottingham Forest at the start of the month and then made his first senior start of the campaign against Liverpool, while James came off the bench at Anfield. The two had not played together since the Club World Cup final in July.Colwill is in definite contention for a start at Wembley. Whether James is equally ready is unknown. The fact McFarlane played him in midfield both at the Etihad Stadium in January and in his half-hour cameo away to Liverpool suggests that if he does have a part to play, it will be there rather than at full-back.Chelsea should be boosted by Levi Colwill in their line-up at Wembley (Peter Powell /AFP via Getty Images)And finally, a prediction. Who is lifting the 2025-26 FA Cup?Lee: I’ve seen some odd results involving City in FA Cup finals, considering the defeats to United and Palace in the past two years (as well as the famous Wigan upset in 2013), so you can never be too sure what will happen. Especially after the Champions League final in 2021.Chelsea are obviously having a terrible time in the league but they have got this far in the cup for a reason, so I am not expecting this to be easy for City. All that said, I would like to think they can make their quality show, especially in such a sentimental game for some of the players and quite possibly the manager.Jones: I think Sam is being quite kind in giving Chelsea much credit for their FA Cup run. It’s worth remembering that before they faced fellow Premier League side Leeds in the semi-final, they had played Championship trio Charlton Athletic, Hull City and Wrexham (which was something of a slog) and Port Vale of League One.The victory over Leeds was encouraging, as was the fact they came away from Anfield with a point last weekend, but overall they are leaking a lot of goals and not scoring many against Premier League opposition.To lift the trophy this afternoon, Chelsea will need to show a level of discipline in defence and clinicality in front of goal that they simply have not displayed lately — but if there is ever a time for them to raise their game, this would be it.