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The season showpiece takes place at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon as champions Manchester City take on their rivals Manchester United. The match kicks off at 3pm and is live on both BBC1 and ITV1.
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola’s side are still hoping to secure the treble following their clinching of the Premier League title a fortnight ago. City have been magnificent during the second half of the season and barely put a foot wrong. With the Champions League final on the horizon, Pep opted to rotate his squad towards the end of the campaign, however, he’s likely to deploy his strongest XI on Saturday afternoon.
Match has ended
Despite dropping points in their final two matches of the domestic campaign, City will be fully revved up for this contest and as odds-on favourites for this contest, they will fancy their chances of lifting the trophy this weekend.
Impressively, Pep’s side are yet to concede a goal in the FA Cup this season and although they’ve had a fairly easy run in this competition, they did manage to ease past both Chelsea and Arsenal in the third and fourth rounds.
City’s XI will make interesting viewing with Riyad Mahrez having failed to nail down a regular starting spot in the PL, yet he’s netted five times in the FA Cup and having single-handedly fired them past Sheffield United in the previous round, he will feel as though he has a justifiable claim to a starting spot here.
Man United
It’s been an exhausting season for Manchester United, who have played 60+ matches across all competitions this year.
Nevertheless, Erik Ten Haag has done a superb job of steadying the ship and he must be credited with bringing an air of calm to proceedings.
United clinched third spot in the Premier League and guaranteed themselves European football with a minimum of fuss. They won each of their last four games and eight of their last 11 and will approach this contest with plenty of confidence.
Unlike their opponents, United didn’t keep many clean sheets in the FA Cup, although they were handed home ties in the majority of their fixtures. They required penalties to sneak past Brighton in the semi-finals, however, they thoroughly deserve their place in this showpiece event. They will relish this opportunity to scupper their rivals’ chances of securing the treble.
Head to Head
The good news for neutrals is that both meetings between these two sides were hugely entertaining this season. At the Etihad, City ran out 6-3 winners with Erling Haaland and Phil Foden stealing the show. In the reverse fixture, United were victorious despite falling behind to a 60th minute strike from Jack Grealish.
Predictably, City have been victorious in four of the last six meetings between these two teams and there hasn’t been a stalemate between these two outfits since December 2020 (0-0).
Although the last three meetings have been extremely watchable and have featured 17 goals accumulatively, the previous six games contained just nine goals with BTTS failing to land in each of those games.
Key Betting Stats
- Prior to their 0-0 draw in the semi-final, each of Manchester United’s four FA Cup fixtures ended with an identical score-line (3-1)
- Man United have kept a clean sheet in 45% of their matches this season
- Fred is the only Manchester United player to have scored in more than one FA Cup fixture this season.
- Almost a third (30%) of Manchester United’s goals have arrived in the final 20 minutes this season.
- Manchester City have scored 17 times across their five FA Cup ties this season. They are yet to be breached in this competition.
- Despite scoring a 59-minute hat-trick against Burnley, Erling Haaland has only found the net in one FA Cup tie so far this season.
- City are yet to play out a 0-0 draw this season.
Match Prediction
It’s a tough match to call. Both sides will be exhausted following lengthy campaigns, however, there should be a decent tempo to this contest. Manchester United will be determined to derail their opponent’s treble ambitions, and could potentially take them all the way.
Winning Combo
Manchester United or Draw Double Chance (in 90 mins), Under 3.5 Goals, Over 7 Corners and Both Teams to Receive a Card
Odds – 9/2 with Bet365 Bet Builder
Best Bookmaker
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