The 142nd FA Cup Final is a first as the two biggest teams in Manchester square battle in the championship game of English football for the first time ever. The possibility of completing a remarkable treble, whereby they will face Inter Milan in the Champions League final the following week, is alluring for City.
United, who achieved the remarkable feat of winning the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League in the same season in 1999, is the only team in England to accomplish this. They should be motivated to stop them for more reasons than just the local rivalry.
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Date: Saturday, June 3 | Time: 10 a.m. ET
Location: Wembley Stadium, London
Live stream: ESPN+
The Journeys of Both Teams
Manchester City
As Pep Guardiola tries to become the first manager in more than a century to lead his team to the trophy without giving up a goal, their journey to the FA Cup final has essentially portrayed the story of City’s march to the title in miniature. Only two teams have achieved that accomplishment in the Football League period (1888-1899): Preston North End in 1889 and Bury in 1903.
In addition to their great performance in the FA Cup, City leads the league in goals scored with 17, the highest any club has accomplished since they reached 26 themselves in 2019. Given that Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Kevin De Bruyne, and Jack Grealish have all resumed training following injury issues that kept them out of their team’s loss to Brentford on the final day of the Premier League season, they will feel confident about increasing their tally. Guardiola may also have a fully fit squad to choose from.
Manchester United
With Anthony Martial out, Ten Hag does not have the luxury of selecting a team that is totally fit.There are serious concerns about Antony’s participation as well. According to his management, they believe Antony has only “a really small chance” of being able to recuperate from the injury that required him to be carried off against Chelsea last week.
Even though United is a huge underdog in the final, they at least have confidence that they can defeat the Premier League champions after their surprise 2-1 victory in January. Before his second cup final of the season, Ten Hag told the BBC, “It’s really fun to watch Manchester City, but we have to stop them.” “We need to make it a game for us. We demonstrated that we could defeat them, but we must perform at our best. If we believe, anything is conceivable at some point.
