The Magic of the FA Cup: Newport County v Manchester City

Manchester City have what looks to be a difficult looking away game in the FA Cup against League Two side Newport County.

All things being equal the glorious Manchester City players should easily dismantle the Newport side and run out significant winners to add their goal haul from both their FA Cup games so far this season -7:0 at home to Rotherham United and 5:0 at home to Burnley. On paper there should be no contest, but this game is not being played on paper or even grass for that matter.

The cliche of the Cup is all about giant killers and shock goals under the floodlights. It is all about the magic of a lower league side beating the Champions and is exactly what the pundits will all be wishing for on Saturday. The wonderful thing about City is that we often oblige in these circumstances – remember Wigan everyone? Their one legged chairman scored in an FA Cup Final or so I have heard.

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The Newport County pitch is shared with various other teams including a team of egg chasing Rugby players and the edges seem to have been ploughed for potatoes. This pitch may be a leveller and as a fan I worry about it causing injury or a red card. We all know the referee may be keen on a red card to even things out.

It will be interesting to see whether Guardiola decides to play this game on the floor or whether he must take a more direct approach. Will this be a game where Ederson can add to his solitary assist so far this season? There will certainly be a physical mismatch between our two sides and City will be hard pressed to meet the physical aspects of this tie.

Guardiola will also no doubt have one eye on the travelling party for Schalke so Newport may well get to see some significant squad rotation. This game will not finish with a cricket score but will probably be a much closer game than fans expect. This game is crying out for a calm and measured professional performance to get us through to the next round and I believe City will do exactly that.

I expect City will line up with a familiar 4-3-3 formation with Ederson in goal with Danilo and Zinchenko as full backs. Otamendi will be the main centre back as his aerial ability will be needed. Alongside him we could see Phillipe Sandler but I think it is more likely John Stones will be trusted.

The midfield is where the most difficult decisions remain for Guardiola. Normally i would expect to see Gundogan playing as a defensive midfielder in the Fernandinho role, but Gundogan has been so good recently he may be protected for Schalke away. If that is the case then we could see Delph stepping in. I consider Foden will start so the remaining midfield spot will fall to David Silva. The attack will be lead by Gabriel Jesus who will most likely be flanked by Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez.

That side should have more than enough to beat the minnows. Expect though to listen and watch 90 minutes plus of pundits reminding us of the comparative costs of the two squad and how Raheem Sterling will earn enough money in 2 minutes to feed the whole of Newport and still have enough left over to buy a speedboat.

Next. Best Manchester City Players of the Decade: The Goalkeepers. dark

Man City Square Manchester City Predicted Starting XI

Goalkeeper: Ederson

Defence: Danilo, Stones, Otamendi, Zinchenko

Midfield: Delph, Silva, Foden

Attack: Sane, Jesus, Mahrez

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