Manchester City v Watford : 2019 FA Cup Final Preview

The 138th FA Cup Final takes place at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 18 May between Manchester City and Watford.

Manchester City reached the FA Cup Final thanks to some excellent performances along the way. Unlike a lot of other Premier League clubs, City did not disrespect this competition and instead have played consistently strong teams even when facing Lower League opposition. Incredibly, some journalists even questioned whether City should have stopped scoring in some games to show more respect! You could not make it up!

In the 3rd round City were drawn at home to Rotherham United and despatched them 7:0. They were rewarded for their efforts with a home tie against Burnley in the 4th round and another solid performance saw City run out 5:0 winners. In the 5th round City were drawn away to minnows Newport County and despite a spirited performance byu the Welsh side, City triumphed 4:1. This earned a Quarter Final clash away at Swansea and a hard fought game where we earned a 3:2 win. A Wembley semi final beckoned against Brighton and City won through thanks to a goal from Gabriel Jesus.

Watford have had a good season under the management of Javi Gracia and the FA Cup run has been a deserved reward for their efforts. In the 3rd round Watford beat Woking 2:0 away from home and earned a tricky looking away tie to Newcastle where they also won 2:0. The 5th round took Watford to Loftus Road to face QPR where they battled to a 1:0 victory. The Quarter Final was a hotly contested game against Crystal Palace where Watford progressed 2:1 to face Wolves in the Semi Final. During that game Watford fell 2 goals behind before clawing back to win 3:2 in extra time thanks to a penalty from the talismanic Troy Deeney.

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Going into this game City may become the first side to notch up 50 wins in a season if they do manage to beat Watford. In fact they will be the first side to win the League and Cup double since 2010 – let alone the prospect of actually winning all 3 trophies ! All 4 if like Guardiola you also include the Community Shield!

But it would be wrong to think this game is a foregone conclusion. Watford are a good, well organised side who are dangerous from set pieces. Their physical approach will be designed to rough up some of our players and to put us off our stroke. They are not just a physical team though, in Deulofeu they have a confident ball player with vision and skill.

Watford will undoubtedly cause City many problems with first and second balls, they will have no pressure upon them and for the first hour or so at least will be willing to run to the heavens and back in pursuit of their first ever trophy win. In the past we have seen City slip up with such a combination before, but I am not so sure this time. Although the task will be difficult, I think City will triumph.

Guardiola has the benefit of an almost fully fit squad. Kevin De Bruyne is likely to feature in some capacity having returned from injury last weekend. We await an update about Fernandinho tomorrow from Guardiola. Benjamin Mendy is in hospital in Barcelona making him our only absentee, after seemingly having had a further procedure on his knee and has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

Guardiola will be particularly keen to win this trophy if possible. He will be picking his best available side to achieve this and if we are able to exert early control then we should have the mentality to seize full control of this match. Getting an early goal will be key to this – let us hope our players are not still celebrating the title win!

In defence it is difficult to look further than our recent line ups – so Ederson, Walker, Kompany, Laporte and Zinchenko. Kompany will play to combat the physical approach and deal with the second ball problem. Fernandinho is unlikely to start so we can expect to see Gundogan in that role again. In front of him will be Bernardo and Kevin De Bruyne. The attack will comprise Aguero flanked by Sterling and Sane. I think Guardiola will be using his fast players on that big Wembley pitch and Mahrez, Silva and Foden will be back up options.

Next. Manchester City : The Treble Dream. dark

It is 6 years since I last watched City in the FA Cup Final and it surely has to be an improvement on that day! Here’s hoping we can bring that trophy back to Manchester!

Predicted Manchester City Starting XI

Ederson

Walker, Kompany, Laporte, Zinchenko

Gundogan, Bernardo, De Bruyne

Sane, Aguero, Sterling

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