England

Manchester City Battle Watford In FA Cup Final

It’s been a long and gruelling season, but finally, we’ve arrived at the FA Cup Final. It’s so often considered to be the final act of the English domestic campaign, and it’s hard to disagree with that. Over the years a lot of fans have stated that they believe the magic of the cup has disappeared, but we really do believe that it’s been on the rise as of late. Now, with just one game remaining in the competition, it’s time for the two finalists to step up and be counted as they attempt to make history for their respective clubs.

The game will be contested between Manchester City and Watford, who have both had really strong seasons up to this point (to say the least). Both sides had an interesting journey to Wembley through the previous rounds of the competition, and to be honest, it wasn’t easy for either. City took on Brighton & Hove Albion in a relatively uneventful semi final, which they managed to edge 1-0. Watford, though, had to come from 2-0 down against Wolverhampton Wanderers before winning 3-2 in extra time. In many ways, it’s probably one of the greatest FA Cup semi finals of all time – and that’s no exaggeration.

City have had one of the greatest English domestic seasons ever, having already won the League Cup and Premier League. They were unable to get the job done in Europe, but to be honest, we’re not entirely sure that matters too much in the grand scheme of things. Pep Guardiola has been able to put together one of the most exciting teams we’ve ever seen, and as we look ahead to the future, it really does feel like there’s a good chance this City squad is going to go from strength to strength, which is a terrifying prospect for the rest of the division.

Watford were top half contenders for much of the season and while they may have dropped off a bit in the league, there’s a reason for that. The reason? The FA Cup. We’ve already spoken about their great semi final against Wolves, which really did encapsulate the spirit of this Hornets team. They weren’t fancied to do much of real note at the start of the season, but defying the odds seems to be what they’re all about these days. They are an efficient team, and they’re more than capable of beating City.

The champions have been picture perfect over the course of their last six games, starting off with their Champions League quarter final second leg win over Tottenham. Despite going out of the competition City did actually end up winning 4-3 on the night, and if VAR is to be disputed, then you could argue they could’ve had so much more. They went on to beat Spurs again in the Premier League, because a nice 2-0 win over city rivals Manchester United. Back to back close calls against Burnley and Leicester put them on the edge of retaining the title, before a 4-1 comeback win over Brighton on the final day sealed the deal.

Watford’s last six has been a little bit different, kicking off with a valiant 1-0 loss to Arsenal with ten men. They went on to register a much needed win over Huddersfield, before scoring a late goal to equalise against Southampton. They then had revenge thrust upon them by Wolverhampton Wanderers who beat them 2-1, they lost 3-0 to Chelsea, and they ended the season with a pretty poor 4-1 defeat against West Ham United. Still, even with all of that, we’re pretty sure their fans didn’t care all too much courtesy of the cup final.

These two teams haven’t actually met all too often, with City leading 17-6 in the overall head to head standings with five draws. City are actually unbeaten in their last 15 meetings against the Hornets, with their last defeat coming back in 1989. City did the double over them in the Premier League this season with their last encounter taking place back in March, and while Watford did put up a bit of a fight, it was City that came away with the three points in a nice 3-1 performance. Of course, history doesn’t really care for those kinds of statistics.

Zinchenko is expected to start at left back, despite Benjamin Mendy seemingly being available. Kevin De Bruyne will almost certainly start now that he’s back to full fitness, with Sterling and Aguero being looked to for goals. Gundogan could keep his place in the starting XI as Fernandinho has struggled with an injury recently, whereas there’s a big question mark over who will partner Laporte at the back. Otamendi, Kompany and Stones are all in the running, but you’d have to imagine that Captain Fantastic Kompany will be the favourite to get the call after his heroics in recent weeks.

Jose Holebas was sent off on the final day of the Premier League season, but courtesy of a successful appeal, he will indeed start in his game. Femenia and Janmaat are in competition for a place in the starting line-up, whereas the rest of the team is expected (by many Watford fans) to pick itself. Gomes is set to start in goal for what will probably be the final game of his professional career, with the only real injury worry for Watford being Domingos Quina who has been struggling as of late. He’ll be assessed prior to the game tomorrow.

Manchester City vs Watford Betting Prediction

We really do believe that there’s only one way this game is going to go, and that’s a narrow yet decisive victory for Manchester City. In recent weeks they’ve had a lot of close games in terms of the scoreline, but the actual play on the pitch has been the exact opposite. We think the same thing will happen here as City batter Watford from pillar to post, but just can’t find the breakthrough they so desperately need. Eventually, though, they’ll get it, and they’ll shut up shop for the day before easing to victory.

Watford are going to be physical though and City need to prepare themselves for that, because it could easily cause them to get a little bit unsettled. Nobody knows for sure what is going to happen in a game of this magnitude but we do know the Hornets aren’t just going to roll over and take a beating, because this is one of their biggest games ever. It’s going to be a phenomenal occasion regardless of who winds up lifting the trophy, but either way, it’s going to be a day that both sets of fans are never going to forget.