How many Southampton fans will be at Wembley for FA Cup semi-final compared to Man City | OneFootball

Will the Saints be outnumbering the City fans in England's capital this weekend?

Southampton's Championship promotion ambitions will have to take a back seat this weekend, as they make the trip to Wembley to take on Premier League giants Man City in the semi-final of the FA Cup.

The Saints' unbeaten run in all competitions stretches back to 20 matches, and their much-improved form in the league has seen them catapulted into an automatic promotion battle, having returned to the second tier from the Premier League last year after just one season back in the top flight.

Under Tonda Eckert, who was promoted from his role as under-21's boss to succeed Will Still back in December on a permanent basis, Southampton are flying, and whilst their second tier rivals have some important matches to contest this weekend to try and strengthen their promotion hand, the south coast outfit will be attempting to tame a beast.

Without doubt the toughest match they could've gotten on paper, with Chelsea and Leeds United facing off on Sunday in the second semi, Southampton will take confidence from the fact they defeated Arsenal in the last round to book their spot at Wembley, but taking on a fit and firing City - especially at Wembley - could be a different challenge altogether.

How many fans Southampton are actually taking to Wembley v Man City

Despite Wembley being as big as it is at a 90,000-seater capacity, not all tickets go to Saints and Man City fans for the semi-final spectacle, with many others going to sponsors and corporate sections.

And ahead of today's trip to London, Southampton fans blasted through their allocation of 33,350 tickets and sold them out relatively quickly compared to their Premier League counterparts.

The uptake was that much slower at City that earlier in the week, the Saints were handed an extended allocation of 2,600 - some of which were taken from tickets sent back by the Premier League leaders, taking the total number of fans (if all are sold) in the Southampton areas of the stadium to 39,950.

There is still issues though in relation to train travel into London for Saints fans - MPs and Saints figures were hoping to get rail works in the Basingstoke area to be paused to allow more fans to make their way on the network, and althouhh South Western Railway have put extra direct services on to Waterloo Station, supporters have still been urged to not use these services as they are going to get full quickly and there's still more demand than they can provide.

Have Man City sold out their Wembley allocation for Southampton clash?

Whilst a Wembley match is rare for many teams, Man City will be making their 31st trip to English football's home since it was re-opened in 2007 - such is the success they have had on the pitch in cup competitions.

It's not quite clear how many tickets City fans have actually picked up, but they received the same initial 33,350 allocation as Southampton, but the fact that they sent some back to give to the Championship side suggests they will be outnumbered on the terraces.

And in fairness to the loyal fans of the Etihad Stadium outfit, the rising costs of making the long round trip to London and back, as well as the cost of tickets and a day at the football - and not even to mention they were there last month for the EFL Cup final - means it is getting somewhat of a chore for their supporters to make the trip as often as they are.