Chelsea vs Man City: Five things to look for in the Champions League final

5. Will a real striker step up?

Currently, Guardiola’s City and Tuchel’s Chelsea have one glaring similarity: the lack of a true striker taking the goal-scoring responsibility.

For the Citizens, the reasons are as systematic as they are as circumstantial. Guardiola switched to a false nine system midseason due to Aguero’s injuries and Gabriel Jesus’ misfiring. The change might’ve coincided with Ilkay Gundogan’s purple patch, but it clearly worked and brought consistency to the team. From there on, while Jesus has chipped in the odd goal, the reliance has been on the midfielders to create and take the chances. With Gundogan as their top league scorer with 13 goals and Riyad Mahrez as their top European scorer with four goals, it’s quite clear that Man City’s primary goal scorers have simply not been good enough.

For Chelsea, the striker misgivings compound. For a club inside the top four and in the final of two major cup competitions, to record Jorginho as the top league scorer with seven penalties is nothing short of shameful. A large part of these struggles can be attributed to the system. Tuchel sacrificed his team’s creative players when he switched to the 3-4-3, putting the onus wingbacks to effectively contribute in chance creation and conversion along with the front three.

While the wingbacks have been pulling their weight, the attackers have not held their end of the bargain. The likes of Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi have not nearly created or scored enough, while nothing seems to go Timo Werner’s way. It’s quite telling that the most threatening player in Chelsea’s recent matches has been Ben Chilwell, as it puts further pressure on the defence to help the team stay in the game. Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud, two true strikers with the best goal-to-minutes ratio, have been left out in the cold due to being misfits in Tuchel’s fluid pressing system. While their exclusions can be justified with most of the results, should the club come back home with big fat xG and no trophy to show for it, will it be worth it?

When Chelsea or City is trailing in the 89′, on the biggest night of the season, will either have a true striker to trust with the final goal-scoring opportunity?

What are some of the things you’ll be looking for? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!