FA Cup: Bournemouth v Manchester City preview | OneFootball

Manchester City only have one shot at silverware this season, but they will have to get past a team who know how to get the better of them.

Bournemouth have beaten Man City this season

Until this season, Man City’s record against Bournemouth was nothing short of astounding. Since the Cherries were promoted to the Premier League 10 years ago, City had won all 15 meetings between the sides. However, this changed when they faced off in November.

It may seem like a distant memory now, but Man City were top of the league when they came up against Bournemouth. A win would have been expected of Pep Guardiola’s side, but the home team had other ideas. Goals from Antonine Semenyo and Evanilson gave them a 2-0 lead and Josko Gvardio’s late effort was nothing more than a consolation goal.

Fast forward a few months and only four points separate Man City from Bournemouth in the Premier League. This makes it evidently clear that the champions of England will face a tough test on Sunday.

Man City need to win

Pep Guardiola is sometimes criticised for having only coached top teams which spend large sums of money. However, it takes a good manager to win the number of trophies he’s picked up during his managerial tenures.

He has taken Man City from being a strong team in England to becoming the champions of Europe in 2023 and winning multiple Premier League titles, as well as an historic treble.

This season, however, has been a disaster for Guardiola. His team are out of the league title race and every competition they’ve competed in, except the FA Cup.

The Catalonian has even suffered personally, recently getting divorced from his partner of 30 years. He certainly does not want to end the campaign without a trophy for the first time since his opening season at the club.

City’s first real test

Man City’s run to the FA Cup quarter-finals should be a crime based on how easy it has been. Salford City, Leyton Orient and Plymouth Argyle are the EFL minnows City have faced. This makes their achievement less impressive and the visitors must prove they deserve to head to Wembley.

Bournemouth’s draw has not exactly been difficult, but they have played two Premier League teams, which is a lot harder than City’s quarter-final run-in. A convincing 5-1 win over West Brom was followed up with a 2-0 victory at Everton. In the previous round, they narrowly escaped the jaws of defeat with a penalty shootout win over Wolves.

Some might therefore say the Cherries deserve to go through more, but ultimately you can only beat what’s in front of you and this is exactly what City have done.

An open draw

The domestic cups in England have been a snooze fest for years when it comes to underdog success. Even with the top teams throwing out their under-21s sides in the League Cup, they’ve managed to dominate year after year.

This season’s FA Cup is far more interesting, with Crystal Palace having already secured their place at Wembley. Championship side Preston North End have a chance to make the semis and Bournemouth are a team who have never really peaked in cup competitions.

City will surely be the favourites if they can get the win, but even Bournemouth have a decent chance of success with five of the so called ‘big six’ already knocked out.

With City looking for a trophy to partially save their torrid season and Bournemouth on the hunt for a first major trophy in their history, this one has been teed up rather nicely. Bring it on!