Man Cityvs.Plymouth

The two teams meet for the first time in any competition since February 1989 when the Citizens claimed a 2-0 victory in the old Division Two at Maine Road.

Match preview

Following back-to-back defeats to Real Madrid and Liverpool, Man City returned to winning ways and secured three valuable Premier League points in a slender 1-0 victory at Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night.

Erling Haaland marked his return from injury with a 12th-minute match-winner, his 20th Premier League goal of the season, to help the Citizens climb back into the top four, albeit just one point ahead of Chelsea in fifth and only five points above Aston Villa down in 10th with 11 games remaining.

Pep Guardiola's side are now prioritising a top-four finish in what has been a turbulent season for Man City, who after winning four Premier League titles in a row now sit a whopping 20 points behind champions-elect Liverpool. Ending the season on a high by winning silverware remains on the cards, though, as City have been listed as the bookmakers' favourites to win the FA Cup.

Indeed, now that Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs have all been eliminated, Man City will back themselves to win an eighth FA Cup this term. The Citizens have reached at least the semi-final stage of the competition in seven of the last eight seasons under Guardiola prior to the current campaign, but they have only triumphed on two occasions in 2018-19 and 2022-23.

Last season's losing finalists are now preparing for just their second-ever FA Cup meeting with Plymouth, having previously beaten them 3-1 at Maine Road in the fifth round back in 1988. City have already beaten two lower-league sides to get to round five this term, thrashing League Two Salford City 8-0 in the third round, before coming from behind to beat League One Leyton Orient 2-1 in the fourth round.

Less than 24 hours after being appointed Plymouth's first foreign head coach, Miron Muslic watched on from the stands when the Pilgrims stunned Brentford to win 1-0 away in the FA Cup third round last month. However, he was in the dugout when Plymouth produced the shock of round four by knocking out Premier League leaders Liverpool, winning again by a 1-0 scoreline three weeks ago.

Ryan Hardie's second-half penalty was enough for Plymouth to get the better of a much-changed Reds outfit in front of a bouncing Home Park crowd, progressing to the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 18 years.

Since beating Liverpool, Plymouth have picked up five points across their last four Championship matches to boost their hopes of survival. After thrashing Millwall 5-1 on home soil, the Pilgrims suffered a 2-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers, but they have responded with back-to-back 1-1 draws with fellow relegation-threatened sides Luton Town and Cardiff City.

Last weekend, Cardiff threaten to spoil the recent optimism built under Muslic after Yousef Salech's early goal, but Plymouth fought back to deny the 10-man Bluebirds, with Muhamed Tijani netting a second-half equaliser to move the Pilgrims to within three points of safety.

Before travelling to Hull City in their next Championship fixture, Plymouth will endeavour to pull off another major FA Cup upset at Man City, a team they have suffered defeat against in eight of their last nine meetings in all competitions - the exception being a 3-2 second-tier win at home in January 1988.

Manchester City FA Cup form:

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Manchester City form (all competitions):

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Plymouth Argyle FA Cup form:

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Plymouth Argyle form (all competitions):

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Team News

Manchester City will be without Rodri (ACL), Manuel Akanji (abductor) and John Stones (thigh) due to injury, while Oscar Bobb is closing in on a return to full fitness, but this weekend's game will come too soon for the attacker.

Guardiola is expected to make a number of changes to the City side that beat Spurs in midweek, with Stefan Ortega, Rico Lewis, Vitor Reis, Nathan Ake, James McAtee and Jack Grealish among those pushing for a recall.

Since his debut in the FA Cup in January 2016, no player has been involved in more goals in the competition (first round onwards) than Kevin De Bruyne (26 - nine goals, 17 assists). The Belgian netted the winner at Leyton Orient in the previous round and is in contention to start in midfield on Saturday.

Another name who could be involved is new signing Claudio Echeverri, a 19-year-old attacking midfielder who has now arrived in Manchester and could be in contention to make his debut after starring at the Under-20 South American Championship, where he captained Argentina to a runners-up finish.

As for Plymouth, Muhamed Tijani is facing a couple of weeks out with a hamstring injury and joins fourth-round hero Ryan Hardie (back), Brendan Galloway (hip) and Joe Edwards (hamstring) in the treatment room.

The absences of Tijani and Hardie leaves Plymouth light in the attacking department; Mustapha Bundu has operated as a number nine in recent matches and could lead the line once again, while on-loan Burnley striker Michael Obafemi is the only natural centre-forward in Muslic's squad.

Maksym Talovierov, Nikola Katic and Julio Pleguezuelo could all line up in a three-man defence, as they did against Liverpool, with Matthew Sorinola and Tymoteusz Puchacz playing as wing-backs, while ex-Man City youngster Darko Gyabi could be recalled in midfield.

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Ortega; Lewis, Reis, Ake, O'Reilly; Gundogan, De Bruyne; Doku, Foden, Grealish; Marmoush

Plymouth Argyle possible starting lineup:

Hazard; Talovierov, Katic, Pleguezuelo; Sorinola, Randell, Gyabi, Puchacz; Wright, Al Hajj; Bundu

We say: Manchester City 4-0 Plymouth Argyle

Plymouth could become the first team from outside the top flight to eliminate Premier League opposition in three consecutive rounds of the FA Cup since Wigan Athletic in 2017-18, but their next opponents Man City have won their last 18 FA Cup tie against teams from lower divisions by an aggregate score of 69-9, since losing 1-0 at Wigan in the 2017-18 fifth round.

Muslic will hope that his Pilgrims players can deliver another spirited performance, but it is difficult to envisage the visitors pulling off another cup shock this weekend, as Man City should be too strong for them at the Etihad, even if Guardiola opts to make multiple changes.

Written by

Oliver Thomas

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