Summary
For tonight’s FA Cup Fifth Round clash against Peterborough United, Pep Guardiola has made six changes to his starting eleven.
TEAM OF MEN
MATCHDAY LIVE: Peterborough vs. City
John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne, Rodrigo, Bernardo Silva, and Raheem Sterling all started against Everton on Saturday, but they are all on the bench tonight.
Nathan Ake, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez, and Gabriel Jesus will take their position.
Scott Carson and Cieron Slicker have accompanied Ederson as backups because Kyle Walker is suspended and Zack Steffen is not yet fit enough to rejoin to the squad.
TEAMS
Peterborough
Starting XI: Benda, Edwards, Kent, Szmodics, Grant, Knight, Poku, Jones, Ward, Fuchs, Coulson
Subs: Cornell, Beevers, Clarke-Harris, Brown, Marriott, Burrows, Corbett, Mumba, Barker
Manchester City
Starting XI: Ederson, Cancelo, Dias, Ake, Zinchenko (C), Fernandinho, Gundogan, Foden, Grealish, Mahrez, Jesus
Subs: Carson, Slicker, Stones, Sterling, Laporte, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Bernardo
TACTICS IN THE CITY
This evening, we’ll use our tried-and-true 4-3-3 shape to try to proceed in the FA Cup.
Ederson starts in goal, with Joao Cancelo at right back and Oleksandr Zinchenko, the team’s captain tonight, on the left. Those two will be in charge of moving forward and bolstering the attack.
Our defence will be led by Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake, with Fernandinho manning the backline.
Ilkay Gundogan returns to the starting lineup, with his cunning expected to be important in breaking down Peterborough’s defence, while Jack Grealish will join him in the midfield.
In the attacking third, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez, and Gabriel Jesus will all provide goalscoring threats.
Our strategy will remain the same: control possession, work hard to reclaim the ball fast, and attack as frequently as possible.
The crowd will undoubtedly play an influence, but Guardiola will have emphasised the necessity of a strong start.
THREE THREATS
City is still in three tournaments, and our schedule over the next three months might be challenging.
The victor of this game will receive a place in the FA Cup quarter-final, and we will aim to secure our place in the same level of the UEFA Champions League next week. In the next weeks, the players will be put to the test – both emotionally and physically – as they compete for the crown.
This is why there has been a lot of rotation this evening. Few teams can equal the breadth and quality of City’s squad. It’s critical that we make the most of our resources and keep our players fresh for the rest of the campaign.
AN EXTREMELY RARE FIXTURE
The only other meeting between City and Peterborough was in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
In 1981, City travelled to London Road under John Bond’s management and won 1-0 to advance to the centennial final.
STATS OF THE MATCH
Manchester City and Peterborough United have only met once in all competitions, in the fifth round of the FA Cup in February 1981, when the Citizens won 1-0 away from home.
Manchester City have won all 11 of their FA Cup meetings against lower-league opposition, scoring 40 goals (at least three times in ten of them) while allowing only eight.
Three of Peterborough’s previous four FA Cup fifth-round ties – in 1964-65, 1974-75, and 1985-86 – went to a replay, with the only one not going to a replay being a 1-0 loss to Manchester City in 1981. In 1965, the Posh made its lone appearance in the quarter-finals.
Only Manchester United (5) has reached the FA Cup quarter-finals more often than Manchester City (4) since Pep Guardiola took over in 2016-17, with the Spaniard’s earliest departure — a loss at Wigan in 2017-18 – coming in round five.
Ricky-Jade Jones has scored in three of Peterborough’s four FA Cup matches. All of his appearances have been as a replacement, which means he has scored once every 26 minutes in the tournament (79 minutes played).
Only Nathanael Ogebta (4 – all for Shrewsbury) has assisted more FA Cup goals than Kevin De Bruyne in his two outings this season. Only two Premier League players have amassed more points than him since his debut for Manchester City in 2015-16.
