The Fa Cup Returns this weekend with Manchester City taking on Salford. The two clubs are less than 5 miles away from each other.
They are separated by 64 places in the English football pyramid meet at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, as City play host to Salford City in the third round of the FA cup.
Before shifting their attention to important Premier League and Champions League fixtures later this month, the Citizens will begin their quest to win an eighth FA Cup this weekend and their third in the last seven years under Guardiola.
Last season’s losing finalists to rivals Manchester United have progressed to at least the semi-final stage of the FA Cup in each of the last six years, while they have not been eliminated from the third round since losing 3-2 to the Red Devils in 2012. Including replays, Man City have won their last 11 third-round ties by an impressive aggregate score of 46-4.
The Citizens have also had plenty of success against teams from lower divisions in domestic cup competitions, winning each of their last 24 such matches (across both the FA Cup and EFL Cup) by an aggregate score of 88-12, since losing 2-1 at home to Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup sixth round in 2018.
Salford City have made history as they have progressed to the third round of the FA Cup for the first time after beating fellow League Two side Cheltenham Town 2-0 in the second round at the end of November.
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Salford are now preparing for just their third-ever meeting with Premier League opposition, having previously lost 3-0 away against Everton (2020) and 4-0 at home to Burnley (2023) in the EFL Cup.
Even though Robinson has admitted that it will be “very hard” for his in-form Salford side to keep a clean sheet in Saturday’s clash with Man City, he has insisted that his team will continue to “play the same way” against a Citizens outfit that have won each of their previous 17 matches when facing an opponent for the first time.
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Man City will look to get a quick start in this game with the away side from the lower tier of English football. We would expect them to come out of the block fast.
This Salford side extended their fine run of form with a narrow 1-0 success at Robinson’s former club MK Dons last weekend, courtesy of a first-half goal from Hakeeb and they have climbed up to third in the League Two table with only two points separating themselves and second-placed Crewe Alexandra with Doncaster Rovers down in seventh spot.
