Manchester City beat Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley Stadium in the FA Cup final, but the reaction afterwards was all about restraint. Antoine Semenyo broke the deadlock with 18 minutes left, and both he and Pep Guardiola made it clear the win was not being treated as a reason to relax. Tuesday’s trip to Bournemouth was the immediate concern.

Why City are moving straight on to Bournemouth

Guardiola was blunt about the mood. "Not even one [celebration]. You know Bournemouth (away on Tuesday)." Semenyo sounded just as matter-of-fact. "I don't think there will be much celebrations tonight it is getting ready for Tuesday. Just train the same way we have been training and hopefully the results fall in our hands, so we just have pray that happens."

That is backed up by the table. Manchester City are second in the Premier League with 77 points after 36 matches, Arsenal are top on 79 from the same number of games, and City have won four of their last five league matches. The title race is still live, so the FA Cup trophy lift has been pushed aside quickly.

There is also a scheduling wrinkle in the reporting. One source says City’s next league trip is away to Bournemouth on Tuesday, while the stat pack lists the next fixture at 2026-05-19 18:30:00+00. Either way, the message from inside the camp is the same, and that is the only part that really matters here: the season is not being paused for a party.

Semenyo's winner and the bigger picture

Semenyo also gave a brief account of the goal itself. "It has happened a couple of times in training - it happened perfectly today. Everything happened so fast to be honest. It came straight to me and I had to improvise myself as quickly as I can." He added that he has "never competed for trophies like this before" and called the finish "a good finish".

His final also carried a strong individual mark, with a 7.5 rating against Chelsea. The win gives him a second trophy at Manchester City after joining from Bournemouth in the January transfer window, and it came in a game where he was directly involved at the decisive moment.

For City, though, the cleaner reading is the one Guardiola and Semenyo both offered. Wembley mattered, but it did not change the order of priorities. Arsenal are still two points ahead, Bournemouth is next, and the season is still asking for one more league response before anyone starts talking about celebration.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 15 outlets. How we work →