Manchester City start their quest for a fourth successive FA Cup Final when they welcome Exeter City to the Etihad Stadium. it is the first ever meeting between the two sides and comes with a gulf of 56 places, with City second in the Premier League and Exeter 14th in League One.
That doesn’t instantly mean that City will emerge victorious on Saturday afternoon, with a makeshift defence and the magic of the Cup giving Exeter some hope. With no replays, the tie will be decided on penalties in the event of a draw, and Exeter will be hoping to invoke the spirit of Sunderland, Chelsea and Brighton, who have all taken a point from City this year.
The Blues may be tempted to field new signing Antoine Semenyo in the side after the Ghana international completed his move from Bournemouth, and the Faithful will be hoping to get a first glimpse of what the winger can do.
As always, our team are here to give us their views and opinions. Here’s what we think this week.
City need the win and with rotation expected, I think the players step up. 4-1. Win.
Surely City will end their winless run against Exeter. Antoine Semenyo goal on his debut!
Surely, City will beat Exeter. Oh... and Welcome to Manchester, Antoine Semenyo!!!!!
This may not be as straightforward as it looks. On paper, it should be a routine win. In reality, it may be closer. City need to get out of this draw stage they are currently in because, if it ends in a stalemate and it goes to penalties, I don’t fancy our chances, given our record from the spot. That said, I do think we will win outright, although Exeter are likely to score to give their fans hope and the commentators something to wet their pants over.
What happened against, Sunderland, Chelsea and Brighton
No gut feelings for the Brighton match as I had ‘technical difficulties’ but our team still submitted their scores well in time.
On New Year’s Day, we went to the Stadium of Light and played out a tough 0-0 draw. Will went for a 2-0 win and got the nil right for the home side, he was just two goals away from a result.
Against Chelsea, we all went for a win and sadly failed. No one came close to getting any extra points either.
We did the same against Brighton and this time, Will was a City goal away from perfection. Hopefully, we will fare a bit better this afternoon.
Here’s the table - absolutely no change to last time.