Coaches Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers will battle it out to try to win their first trophy in English football when Chelsea and Leicester City meet in Saturday's FA Cup final at Wembley at 4:30 pm.
It's a game that will see two of the Premier League's top teams face off to win the oldest cup competition in football, with the FA Cup first contested in 1871-72.
Chelsea are aiming to win their ninth FA Cup (and seventh this century), which would put them clear in third on the all-time list behind Manchester United (12) and Arsenal (14). Leicester, who stunned the football world by winning the 2015-16 Premier League title, go into their first FA Cup final since 1969 looking to win it for the first time.
Is it going to be a close game?
It's the first time since 2007, when title winners Man United lost to league runners-up Chelsea, that the final will be contested by two teams in the top four, so it promises to be an evenly balanced game with no clear favourite.
Leicester are third in the Premier League, two points ahead of Chelsea, heading into the final week of the league season, and there is little to separate the two sides in recent form. Over the last 10 league games, Chelsea sit third in the form table with six wins, two draws and two defeats. Leicester are fifth having won five, drawn twice and lost three times.
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How has Thomas Tuchel changed Chelsea?
Tuchel, 47, started the season in charge of Paris Saint-Germain before being sacked in December, but he could finish the campaign by guiding Chelsea to success in the FA Cup and Champions League.
When Tuchel replaced Lampard in mid-January, Chelsea were ninth in the Premier League and losing ground on the top four, but he's overseen a dramatic transformation with 17 victories and three defeats in his 26 games in all competitions. Tuchel won domestic cups in Germany and France with Borussia Dortmund and PSG, and he's elevated Chelsea, bringing defensive solidity (18 clean sheets in 26 games) and coaxing much-improved form out of expensive forwards Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, as well as restoring defenders Antonio Rudiger and Marcos Alonso to the team.
Under Tuchel, Chelsea eliminated Man City at the semifinal stage and also beat Pep Guardiola's team, whom they will also face in the Champions League final in Portugal on May 29, in the Premier League last week.
What about Brendan Rodgers?
Leicester were 11th in the Premier League and closer to the relegation zone than the top four when Rodgers left Celtic to replace Claude Puel in February 2019. Since then, Leicester have been on an upwards trajectory, winning 57 of Rodgers' 108 games in charge. They finished fifth last season and on course to improve on that this time around.
Rodgers has brought stylish football to the King Power Stadium, and also turned the club into the one most likely to break up the so-called "Big Six." He has revived the career of 34-year-old striker Jamie Vardy and has improved emerging stars such as James Maddison, Kelechi Iheanacho, Harvey Barnes and Youri Tielemans.
The former Liverpool manager won seven major honours in less than three years at Celtic, but he has yet to win a trophy in English football. Lifting the FA Cup would be a huge boost to his reputation and put him in contention for bigger jobs in the Premier League and Europe.
Source: ESPN