WeeklySA_AdminSHOWCASE: FIRST EVER DERBY OF THE FA CUP
By Ali Mphaki
On their bus to the Wembley stadium Manchester United players will be wearing their new blue suits for their Saturday showpice Emirates FA Cup final clash with Manchester City.
The Paul Smith-designed outfits – been kitting out United’s stars since 2008 – can only mean one thing and one thing only – a lazer sharp focus on the enemy which happens to be their city rivals on the blue side of Manchester.
“Think blue” seems to be the message to Erik ten Hag’s boys who arrived in London on Thursday, two days earlier than their rivals who will only make the trip to the capital on Saturday morning.
There is a lot at stake in this 2023 final of the FA Cup – the 142nd in the history of the competition. City aims to complete part two of what could be a historic treble in a first ever Manchester Derby in an FA Cup final.
United are looking to do the domestic cup double for the first time in their history, and the Premier League champions stand in their way.
Many see this match as City’s biggest obstacle to winning the treble, especially as they lost to Erik ten Hag’s men when they last met in the Premier League, but City are undoubtedly the favourites as they seek a seventh FA Cup in the club’s history.
Having overturned a points deficit to overtake Arsenal in the race for the Premier League title, the confidence will be high in the City camp, with their defeat on the final day of the league season to Brentford unlikely to have caused any negative feelings given that the trophy was already in the bag.
After winning the League Cup in February, Erik ten Hag has another opportunity to win silverware in his first season in charge of Man Utd, and ruin Man City’s treble hopes in the process.
Although there were one or two wobbles towards the end of the Premier League season, Man Utd secured a Champions League spot by finishing third and there is plenty of hope among the Utd fans that they can mount a serious title challenge next season. That belief will be given even greater weight should they defeat their local rivals in this cup final. In the history of the competition there have been two teams who have been to the final the most times.
Arsenal making the final in 2020 was their twenty-first moving them one clear of Manchester United who is on twenty and it is Arsenal who are edging it in terms of the number of FA Cup wins, they have lifted the trophy fourteen times with the last win coming in 2020 whilst Manchester United are two behind on twelve, they last won it in 2016.
Only one English side has ever landed the Premier League title, FA Cup and European Cup in the same campaign. That team? Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in 1999, and they would dearly like to keep that record to themselves It’s the 189th meeting between these rivals but it’s their first-ever clash in a major cup final.
Picking the winner is not that simple, though Manchester City have been scintillating this season – especially in knockout competitions.
The Citizens have absolutely destroyed RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the Champions League, and secured easy wins in crunch matches against Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola’s side have proven that they are more than capable of handling the big occasion, while United failed to beat any of the Premier League’s top nine away from Old Trafford.
The winner is……
