Manchester City vs Manchester United FA Cup final match preview, analysis, H2H and possible line-ups

Manchester City will play their city neighbours, Manchester United, in the FA Cup at the Wembley Stadium on Saturday

Both Manchester sides would get down to business this Saturday in the dug-out for the FA Cup final at Wembley.

Manchester City and Guardiola are in the pursuit of a dignifying treble. The Citizens have already pocketed the league title, to make it five wins from seven seasons and five from eight with the Spaniard tactician at the helm of affairs in the prestigious English club. City have a go at their second Champions League final in three seasons against Inter next weekend in Ataturk, Istanbul, Turkey, but first a memorable journey to Wembley is on the radar.

City are on course to win their first FA cup title since 2018/19 when they significantly thrashed then-Premier League side, Watford, 6-0, to clinch the trophy for the sixth time in the club’s history. Now they chase a seventh title with an even bigger challenge still at hand.

After breaking a dry spell, the club’s dearth of silverware since 2017, with an EFL Cup triumph months ago, United are set to double their gold this season when they go up against unargaubly the most successful side in Europe this season. United are the second most successful side in FA history having recorded twelve wins in finals, only behind Arsenal(14). A win on Saturday would see them move to thirteen. The Red Devils last tasted gold in the competition in 2015/16 under Louis van Gaal.

Manchester City have had a relatively easy run-through their opponents in the FA Cup this season. Now, pitted against United, Guardiola’s men have a task inmoving one step further towards their treble dreams. They are in the finals courtesy of a 3-0 win over Sheffield United in late April. Riyadh Mahrez delivered a beautiful hat-trick to help the Premier League Champions reach their 12th Cup final. The Citizens defeated Chelsea in the third round of the competition with Mahrez scoring twice, joined by strikes from Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden. That was then followed up with a 1-0 victory over Arsenal in which Nathan Ake’s goal was the only thing that separated the two sides.

On the back of that, City met with Burnley in the last eight of the competition, recording a heavy 6-0 win. Haaland was on target thrice joined by a brace from Julian Alvarez and a goal by Cole Palmer.

United’s journey to the final has been a rollercoaster ride. The Red Devils beat Everton, Reading and West Ham 3-1 in the 3rd, 4th and 5th rounds respectively. Another 3-1 win over Fulham in the quarter-finals in which the opposition reduced to nine men without a manager in the final 25 minutes of the game helped Ten Hag and his boys advance to the semis where they defeated Brighton 7-6 on penalties courtesy of a Solly March penalty miss.

Both sides have already faced twice this season, both in the Premier League. City recorded an outstanding 6-3 win over their neighbours in early October with both Erling Haaland and Phil Foden scoring hat-tricks in that game, despite Antony’s screamer and two late goals from Martial.

It was Ten Hag’s men who got the better side in the remake three months later in the Premier League, a 2-1 victory. Jack Grealish scored the opener on the hour mark but Bruno Fernandes(78) and Marcus Rashford(82) struck within the space of four minutes to hand United a win.

Manchester City vs Manchester United key stats

• Manchester United are on a four game winning streak, having last lost to West Ham 1-0 in the Premier League on May 7.
• The Citizens have won 25 out of their past 26 fixtures across the entire board this season. Their undefeated status was recently terminated in a 1-0 loss to Thomas Frank’s Brentford on Sunday.
• Manchester City have won three out of the past four derby meetings between both sides(2-0, 4-1 and 6-3) with the most recent being a 2-1 loss on January 14.
• In 22 meetings against Manchester United, Pep Guardiola has won twelve times, drawn twice and lost eight times. He has never lost a final against the Red Devils.
• In 25 finals as a club coach played till date, Guardiola has recorded only four defeats(2011 Copa Del Ray vs Real Madrid ,2021 FA Community Shield vs Leicester City, 2022 FA Community Shield vs Liverpool ,2021 UEFA Champions League vs Chelsea) one more than Erik Ten Hag’s three defeats from seven finals played till date.
• Algerian midfielder, Riyadh Mahrez is the combined leading goalscorer in both teams; still active in the competition with five goals scored in the tournament.
• Manchester City are yet to concede a single goal from all outings in the FA Cup this season (3-0 vs Chelsea, 1-0 vs Arsenal, 6-0 vs Burnley, 3-0 vs Sheffield United)
• Both sides of Manchester have met nine times in the FA Cup with the first encounter recorded on October 3, 1891. The Red Devils have prevailed on six occasions, incliding four consecutive wins between 1970 and 2004, compared to City’s three wins
• The Red Devils are into their record-equaling 21st FA Cup final, tying with Arsenal in the process. They won twelve and lost eight of the previous 20.
• Manchester City are into their twelfth FA Cup final. They’ve won six of those finals and lost five times.

Manchester City vs Manchester United H2H and form:

Matches Played: 189

Manchester City: 53 wins

Manchester United: 78 wins

Games drawn: 53

Past five meetings:

Manchester City 0-2 Manchester United (07-03-2021)

Manchester United 0-2 Manchester City (06-11-2021)

Manchester City 4-1 Manchester United (06-03-2022)

Manchester City 6-3 Manchester United (02-10-2022)

Manchester United 2-1 Manchester City (14-01-2023)

Manchester United: WLLLW

Manchester City: LWWWL 

Past five fixtures:

Manchester City:

(A) 3-0 Everton

(H) 4-0 Real Madrid

(H) 1-0 Chelsea

(A) 1-1 Brighton

(A) 0-1 Brentford

Form: WWWDL
Manchester United:

(A) 0-1 West Ham

(H) 2-0 Wolves

(A) 1-0 Bournemouth

(H) 4-1 Chelsea

(H) 2-1 Fulham

Form: LWWWW

Manchester City vs Manchester United injuries:

Manchester City:

After a fitness tragedy struck Guardiola’s side towards  the EPL season finale, one which saw the likes of Grealish and Dias pick up knocks, it remains to be seen if some of these stars would be in the mix for Saturday’s final. To join the former two, Manuel Akanji and Kevin De Bruyne, who both missed out the final game of City’s successful 2022/23 EPL campaign, a 1-0 loss to Brentford have their participation in the Cup final hanging in the air.

Manchester United:

With a daunting task ahead of Erik Ten Hag and the entire United crew, The Red Devils would have to make do without few essentials when they slug it out with their neighbours on Saturday.

The trio of Donny Van De Beek(knee), Lisandro Martinez(ankle) and Marcel Sabitzer(knee) are all set to miss the trip to Wembley.

Anthony Martial joins that list after the Frenchman picked up a thigh injury in United’s season rounding fixture against Fulham on Sunday which ended in a 2-1 win. The forward is also set to miss the tie against Manchester City

Antony Dos Santos’ availability remains a bit uncertain. The winger picked up a nasty ankle injury in the 4-1 rout over Chelsea last Thursday courtesy of Trevor Chalobah’s mild tackle but it appears he has made a lot of progress since then and his condition has improved. His participation in the cup final has a huge question mark attached to it.

Manchester City vs Manchester United possible line-ups:

Manchester City:

4-3-3: Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Stones, Rodri, Gundogan, Foden, Mahrez, Silva, Haaland.

Manchester United:

De Gea, Malacia, Lindelof, Maguire, Dalot, Fred, Casemiro, Fernandes, Garnacho, Sancho, Rashford