[Lucky McLuckerson]

...................VS........................

Date: Saturday, June 03 2023
Kickoff Time: 1500 Hrs BST
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London

FA Cup Form Guide

Manchester United: WWWWD
Manchester City: WWWWW


Previous FA Cup Meetings

Manchester City 2—3 Manchester United

Manchester City 1—0 Manchester United

Manchester United 4—2 Manchester City

Manchester United 2—1 Manchester City

Manchester United 1—0 Manchester City


All-Time FA Cup Record

Manchester United wins: 5
Manchester City wins: 3
Draws: 0


Pre-Match Pressers

Erik ten Hag




Josep Guardiola Sala





Team News

Manchester United

Lisandro Martínez, Donny van de Beek, Marcel Sabitzer, Phil Jones and Anthony Martial ruled out. Tom Heaton and Antony doubtful.


Manchester City

Rúben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne doubtful.


Know The Opposition

Manchester City Football Club (nicknamed City, The Citizens, and The Sky Blues), are a professional football club based in Manchester, England. City were founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), before being renamed as Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887, and finally Manchester City in 1894 - and the origins can be traced back to members of St. Mark's Church of England, West Gorton — who founded the football club that would become known as Manchester City, for largely humanitarian purposes. Two church wardens sought to curb local gang violence and alcoholism by instituting new activities for local men, whilst high unemployment plagued East Manchester, specifically Gorton. All men were welcome to join, regardless of religion.

The team's first recorded match occurred on 13 November 1880, and City gained their first honors by winning the Second Division in 1899 — with it came promotion to the highest level in English football, the First Division. In the seasons following the FA Cup triumph of 1904, the club was dogged by allegations of financial irregularities, culminating in the suspension of seventeen players in 1904, including captain Billy Meredith, who subsequently moved across town to Manchester United. Almost half a century later later, a City team inspired by a tactical system known as the Revie Plan reached consecutive FA Cup finals again, in 1955 and 1956; just as in the 1930s, they lost the first one, to Newcastle United, and won the second. The club continued to challenge for honors throughout the 1970s, finishing one point behind the league champions on two occasions and reaching the final of the 1974 League Cup.

Prior to the takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, the club had enjoyed moderate levels of success through their history — however, since the start of the current decade, City have been buoyed by the signings of Sergio Agüero, Yaya Touré, David Silva, Vincent Kompany — and have emerged as perpetual title contenders Vincent Kompany winning the league 5 times in 9 years and repeatedly finishing in the Top 3. City play their homes games at the Etihad Stadium, and their biggest rivals are neighbors and opponents for the game, Manchester United.


Referee

Paul Tierney.


Familiar Faces

N/A.​

 

[Samid]

Rest everyone. Key matches coming up in August.

 

[Reditus]

 

[RedPed]

Rest everyone. Key matches coming up in August.

Yeah, I'm gonna be real pissed if Ten Hag puts out a strong team. We need everyone fresh for the friendlies in America.

 

[SuperiorXI]

The kit man must make sure everyone packs some lube

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Hopefully Pep rests some of his key players for the CL final as surely that’s the one they want to win the most.

 

[Dve]

Please let this be the team

................ De Gea

Bissaka - Varane - Lindelöf - Shaw

......... Casemiro - Fred

Sancho - Fernandes - Garnacho

.............. Rashford

 

[Siorac]

Do we have to play this?

I'm in a nice end of season mood, ready to take a break from football. We won the last four league games on the trot and finished third after winning a trophy earlier this season - we should be happy and relaxed and looking forward to next season. This just feels like an unnecessary mood killer, just there to prevent us from finishing 22/23 on a high note.

 

[Yorkeontop]

We still haven't gotten our revenge for that unrewarded battering we gave Arsenal in 2005. Hopefully the players are in a mood to steal one.

 

[wr8_utd]

They've lost momentum with the early title win and resting players while we've kept winning. We'll win this imo.

 

[PoTMS]

Ten Hag's first real test.

 

[SAF is the GOAT]

That fraud is lying his bum off

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[James35]

4-1 City. They can turn it when they need to. I think we will huff and puff, miss some good chances and then they will just steam roll us once they get their first.

We’ll nick one late on when they are in CL final mode.

I’d go with De Gea, AWB, Varane, Lindelof, Shaw, Casemiro, Fred, Eriksen, Bruno, Rashford, Martial.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Win or lose, we're on the booze.

It has been a good season, losing this game won't change that. Winning this game would make it a great season, however.

 

[Irwin99]

I'm hoping City's resting of players might actually backfire and that Arsenal's early capitulation might be a good thing. Unlikely perhaps but you never know.

I could be misremembering this but i think i recall Liverpool having a long resting period before their champions league final against Spurs; I thought they were going to be really fit and up for it but they were actually really sluggish on the day. They still won because, well, Spurs, but it wasn't a team that looked well rested and fresh. I wonder if it might have been better for this City side to have won the league later and feel they were really fighting hard for this achievement like we did in '99. You know, momentum, and all that.

Team wise i'd go with:

DDG
AWB Varane Lindelof Shaw
Fred Casemiro
Eriksen
Bruno Rashford Sancho

Not sure about Sancho's workrate but he seems to in good goal-scoring form and it's against his old club. Hope our fans are in great voice and we believe.

 

[IncyWincySpider]

Park the bus. Try to nick it with a set piece Cas header.

 

[Castia]

Massive game not just for our season but for the chance to stop their treble

Only chance of winning this is nicking it on the Counter on that huge Wembley pitch. Playing the likes of Bruno on the wings is playing straight into their hands we aren’t passing through this City side.

Rashford Martial Garnacho

Bruno Casamiro Fred

Shaw Lindelof Varane AWB

De Gea

Garnacho and Rashford swapping sides when needed I know he’s not a conventional right winger but this game is about hitting that City back line with the open spaces at Wembley

 

[Ayoba]

Wtf why are cas, rash and Bruno paying?!?

 

[Ayoba]

But on a more serious note, I'm so scared, so so scared. More than you know it

 

[Berbaclass]

They won't push as hard as we will, UCL is the main goal.

 

[bosnian_red]

De Gea
Wan Bissaka Varane Lindelof Shaw
Casemiro
Bruno Fred
Sancho Martial Rashford​

Our only chance IMO. Need Martial to have an on day, need good Fred, and then Sancho has had some good games and is the only one who makes sense there IMO. Don't think we can win unless Martial has an on day really.

 

[Red00012]

Wtf why are cas, rash and Bruno paying?!?

Cash me outside how bout that

 

[sincher]

De Gea
Wan Bissaka Varane Lindelof Shaw
Casemiro
Bruno Fred
Sancho Martial Rashford​

Our only chance IMO. Need Martial to have an on day, need good Fred, and then Sancho has had some good games and is the only one who makes sense there IMO. Don't think we can win unless Martial has an on day really.

Yes I agree with both the line-up and your comments.

A bit unsure about Sancho but the fact that he can play on the right tips the scales in his favour over Garnacho. There is an argument for Garnacho over Martial but really I think we need Martial and as you say he has to be on.

Not a game for Eriksen unless we play Bruno as false nine and I can't see us winning doing that.

 

[Unam333]

De Gea
Wan Bissaka Varane Lindelof Shaw
Casemiro
Bruno Fred
Sancho Martial Rashford​

Our only chance IMO. Need Martial to have an on day, need good Fred, and then Sancho has had some good games and is the only one who makes sense there IMO. Don't think we can win unless Martial has an on day really.

That's the line-up. There's no other way. We need a solid midfield and the Casemiro-Fred combo is the way to go. All players need to put in the performance of their lives.

 

[cyberman]

I’m hoping Haaland is out of sorts since he’s hasn’t played properly in 2/3 weeks before the final.
I honestly believe this is closer to 50/50 than people think

 

[Ole'sattheWheel]

Take it to pens and do em. Their players are shit on penalties whereas we seem to be pros now

 

[klsv]

I forgot we had McTominay - Eriksen in the midfield during that 6-3 loss. Casemiro came on after they had scored four.

Think everything form related went out the window after they clinched the title and started messing about. So many variables, can go either way. Happily let the carry the burden of being favorites, let us become the game raising cnuts that we hate

 

[Shane88]

If we're losing heavily begin Operation: Kick the shit out of City players to give Inter a helping hand.

I'll think of a snappier, less legally dodgy title later.

 

[Oscar Bonavena]

I think it's been an advantage to us that City won the PL with a few weeks to go. Even stepping off the accelerator by 10-15%, it's not always easy to get back up to speed. I'm hoping that's the case next Saturday anyway and it might give us a chance.

Watching their performance v Real Madrid a few weeks ago though, all the time I was thinking "if they bring this to the FA Cup final, how the f**k do we combat it?!"

 

[Dve]

Park the bus. Try to nick it with a set piece Cas header.

No. We've tried that before and got battered. The only way to beat City is to press high and make them do mistakes, just like we did when we beat them under Ole. The park-the-bus strategy has always lead to disaster when playing City.

 

[17 Van der Gouw]

If we're losing heavily begin Operation: Kick the shit out of City players to give Inter a helping hand.

I'll think of a snappier, less legally dodgy title later.

Just wheel out Scholes, his passing is still class and even if he doesn't play well you know he'll clatter somebody.

 

[Ayush_reddevil]

It’s sort of a weird combination of a game where your head is saying no chance but your heart is saying come on anything can happen in a final

 

[Wilt]

Take it to pens and do em. Their players are shit on penalties whereas we seem to be pros now

Erm… De Gea

 

[Ole'sattheWheel]

Erm… De Gea

Yeah when was the last time he saved a pen?

 

[wangyu]

I don't care how we beat them for all I care it is a hold up in the last minute after a De Gea masterclass where every stat is against us.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

City have already won the CL final. Inter is the worst, most pointless, hopeless CL finalist since Spurs (with an injured Kane)

This match it to protect the legacy of the Treble and to win ourselves a domestic double.

I’d celebrate a victory similar to how I would if we’d just won the Champions League. This is so much more than an FA Cup final

 

[LordSpud]

Our biggest game for years and years. In some respect the most important since the 1999 CL final itself. That one was to create history. This one is to now defend the exclusivity of that history.

 

[gajender]

Our biggest game for years and years. In some respect the most important since the 1999 CL final itself. That one was to create history. This one is to now defend the exclusivity of that history.

What utter nonsense for the Forum which predominantly believes City success hardly matters and it's all hollow some of you guys seem tad obsessed with them .

Not Every thing needs to viewed through the prism of City's lenses , don't relegate United to the role of Noisy neighbour .

It's chance to get another trophy that's it but it's certainly not more important than our three CL finals after 1999 and other Title deciders .

 

[BootsyCollins]

DDG
AWB-Varane-Victor-Shaw
Case-Fred
Anthony-Bruno-Rashford
Martial

 

[suheilsworld]

No. We've tried that before and got battered. The only way to beat City is to press high and make them do mistakes, just like we did when we beat them under Ole. The park-the-bus strategy has always lead to disaster when playing City.

True that, parking the bus against City never works. I think we will go with the strategy of the 2-1 home win we had against them. Fred to play KDB shadow, with Bruno on the right, Eriksen no.10, Rashford up top and Sancho on the left with Garnacho and Martial coming on as impact sub.
Crowd that midfield and try to break their inverted full back tactics with Casemiro playing those long balls over their highline for Rashford and Sancho to run and Bruno and Eriksen both sitting as no.10