Arsenal football club will meet with Manchester City at 7:45 PM (UK Time), on Saturday, July 18, 2020, for the third time this season. But this time around, it will be in the FA Cup semi-final which will be held at the prestigious Wembley Stadium in London.
In their last two meetings this season, Manchester City defeated Arsenal home and away, though in Premier League matches. In their last 7 meetings in all competitions, Manchester City have beaten the Gunners with nothing less than two goals per match. In their last two meetings, Arsenal were not able to score a single goal against the Manchester club while Pep Guardiola‘s team succeeded in scoring 3 goals in each of the two matches.
The last time Arsenal was victorious against Manchester City was in 2017 FA Cup semi-final, they knocked out City 2-1 to qualify for the final. Arsenal went on to beat Chelsea and claimed their 13th FA Cup title. Since then, they have not come as close as they have done this season.
In history, Arsenal are the most successful club in terms of FA Cup success. They are the only club that have won the domestic title a record 13 times and have played in the final for a record 20 times.
While Manchester City are the defending champions of the prestigious title. They have won it just 6 times and looking towards equalling Liverpool and Aston Villa FA Cup success by winning the 7th one this season.
On the road to this season’s FA Cup semi-final, Manchester City knocked out Port Vale, Fulham, Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United. While Arsenal knocked out Leeds United, Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Sheffield United.
Why Arsenal Need this season’s FA Cup so badly
Arsenal need the FA Cup title more than any other team that is still in the competition this season. They are currently on the 9th spot on the Premier League table and it is becoming apparent that they will not be able to make it to a Europa League spot except other teams above them start dropping points.
Hence, the only means of making it to Europa League is to win this season FA Cup. Once they do, they will automatically qualify for the group stage of the competition.
But they can only achieve that if they can scale through Manchester City tonight and scale through either Manchester United or Chelsea in the finals.
Since they were able to defeat the Premier League champions, Liverpool football club, 2-1 on Wednesday, it means that it is possible that the club has all it takes to beat any club on a good day.
In the other hand, Manchester City would want to scale through this stage and get to the final with the aim of winning the title since they have failed to defend their Premier League title.
Since they have won the EFL Cup this season, they would want to win the FA Cup and strive to win the UEFA Champions League in order to direct more attention and prestige to themselves once again.
Team News: Arsenal
The manager of Arsenal football club, Mikel Arteta, will still be without his injured first-choice goalkeeper Bernd Leno. He and Pablo Mari have been out with an ankle injury. Gabriel Martinelli and Calum Chambers are also out with knee injury.
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Mustafi, Luiz, Tierney; Bellerin, Ceballos, Xhaka, Saka; Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang
Team News: Manchester City
The manager of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, has confirmed that he would use his first-choice goalkeeper, Ederson, to execute tonight’s match because his second choice, Claudio Bravo, which he usually use for FA Cup matches is out with muscular injury.
His prolific goals scorer, Sergio Aguero is still out with a knee injury while his right-back Joao Cancelo is fit and available for the match.
Man City possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Walker, Fernandinho, Laporte, Mendy; Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Sterling, Jesus, Bernardo
, on Saturday, July 18, 2020, for the third time this season.){kind=link}