Chelsea v Manchester City: Roberto Mancini's side in upbeat mood following victory over Manchester United

Sides meet at Wembley on Sunday for place in final

Andy Hampson
Friday 12 April 2013 12:24 BST
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Roberto Mancini leaves Old Trafford with a smile on his face after victory over United
Roberto Mancini leaves Old Trafford with a smile on his face after victory over United (GETTY IMAGES)

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Manchester City are upbeat as they prepare for their FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea on the back of a morale-boosting derby win over Manchester United.

City's reign as Barclays Premier League champions might be coming to an end but they served up a reminder of their class with a deserved victory over the runaway leaders at Old Trafford on Monday.

Now they turn their full attention to their remaining realistic hope of winning silverware in Sunday's Wembley date with Chelsea.

Midfielder Gareth Barry told the club's website, http://www.mcfc.co.uk: "We go into the game with confidence high after winning at Old Trafford and we just need to focus on our own game and making sure that's right.

"Beating United means we'll go into the game in the right mood and that can't do any harm."

City have the upper hand in meetings with Chelsea this season after drawing 0-0 at Stamford Bridge and winning the return at the Etihad Stadium 2-0.

Roberto Mancini's men might also be fresher as Chelsea need to recover quickly from a midweek trip to Moscow to face Rubin Kazan in the Europa League.

But Barry does not believe too much should be read into any of those factors.

The 32-year-old said: "I don't think we will have any psychological edge because of past results this season.

"In the FA Cup, history and form go out of the window and it's all about who delivers the goods on the day.

"If you look at Chelsea's cup record in recent years, they've been fantastic and have won a lot of trophies so it will be a hard game."

The clash is the bigger of the two semi-finals to be staged this weekend and the winner will be clear favourites to beat Wigan or Millwall in the final.

Barry feels it is disrespectful to look too far ahead.

He said: "It's important we show the other semi-finalists respect because people have been claiming our game with Chelsea is the final.

"Wigan have shown on their day they can beat anyone - as they did when they beat Everton 3-0 at Goodison Park - and though we don't know that much about Millwall, they've got to this stage so they must have something about them, too."

City's main injury concern surrounds David Silva with the playmaker rated highly doubtful after suffering a hamstring injury in Monday's game.

He has undergone tests and manager Roberto Mancini is likely to update on his fitness when he meets media to preview the semi-final.

PA

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