Manchester City remain in the hunt for four trophies this season. On Saturday, the Sky Blues swatted aside Salford City 2-0 in the FA Cup at the Etihad; an Alfie Dorrington own goal breaking the deadlock, before Marc Guéhi bagged his first goal for the club. Having smashed Exeter City 10-1 in the previous round, most were forecasting a goal-fest, which did not come to pass, but job done for the Citizens nonetheless.
Ahead of Monday evening's fifth round draw, which could certainly change things, Manchester City are the current favourites to win the competition. The Sky Blues are seven-times FA Cup winners, only five clubs can boast more, with Pep Guardiola hoisting the famous trophy aloft in both 2019 and 2023. Well, a statistic that emerged over the weekend underlines why no one will want to draw them.
Manchester City's imperious home FA Cup record
This weekend's victory over Salford was Manchester City's 17th consecutive FA Cup victory at the Etihad. This dates back to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough in 2015 when Manuel Pellegrini was in charge, while Willy Caballero, Dedryck Boyata, Stevan Jovetić and Frank Lampard all featured that day.
Manchester City's last 17 FA Cup home matches
- Manchester City 2-0 Salford City. February 2026.
- Manchester City 10-1 Exeter City. January 2026.
- Manchester City 3-1 Plymouth Argyle. March 2025.
- Manchester City 8-0 Salford City. January 2025.
- Manchester City 2-0 Newcastle United. March 2024.
- Manchester City 5-0 Huddersfield Town. January 2024.
- Manchester City 6-0 Burnley. March 2023.
- Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal. January 2023.
- Manchester City 4-0 Chelsea. January 2023.
- Manchester City 4-1 Fulham. February 2022.
- Manchester City 3-0 Birmingham City. January 2021.
- Manchester City 4-0 Fulham. January 2020.
- Manchester City 4-1 Port Vale. January 2020.
- Manchester City 5-0 Burnley. January 2019.
- Manchester City 7-0 Rotherham United. January 2019.
- Manchester City 4-1 Burnley. January 2018.
- Manchester City 5-1 Huddersfield Town. March 2017.
Pep Guardiola has won all 17 of his FA Cup ties played at the Etihad, remarkably seeing his team score 77 goals, that's over 4.5 goals per game, and concede only six.
Thus, Manchester City have equaled the FA Cup record for most consecutive home wins. They now jointly share this with Clapham Rovers, who also enjoyed a 17 match winning streak between 1873 and 1881.
Clapham Rovers existed between 1869 and 1914, dissolving following the outbreak of WWI, actually only reaching two FA Cup Finals, beaten by Old Etonians in 1879, but returning to the Kennington Oval to defeat Oxford University 12 months later. Well, Man City have already surpassed that just since Guardiola's arrival, chasing an eight FA Cup later this year.
Even with Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle and others left in the competition, surely the Sky Blues, particularly at the Etihad, are the tie everyone wants to avoid.