Man City stage late comeback against Saints to book fourth FA Cup final in a row | OneFootball

Manchester City came from behind to book their place in the FA Cup after defeating second-tier Southampton.

Considering the gap between these two teams, Pep Guardiola may well have expected an easier evening at Wembley even with a rotated side but the Saints showed their talent.

The top flight team did have a good chance earlier on when Tijjani Reijnders found himself through on goal and forced Daniel Peretz into a fantastic save that pushed the effort onto the post with Taylor Harwood-Bellis mopping up afterwards. It wouldn't have counted with Reijnders flagged for offside but it was an early warning sign.

It was Saints who had the ball in the net first though as they countered with Leo Scienza finishing past James Trafford but the Brazilian was also offside.

From that point on the game was mostly City's but they were wasteful with their chances until their hand was forced by Saints' opener.

Southampton won the ball in midfield with substitute Kuryu Matsuki laying the ball off for Finn Azaz to turn and brilliantly fire into the top corner in the 79th minute.

Just three minutes later the game was level with some fortune as Jérémy Doku's shot took a big deflection on its way into the net.

If there had been luck about Doku's goal there was certainly none for the winner. Nico González had time on the edge of the area to put plenty of power into his strike with Peretz unable to do anything about it this time.

Southampton weren't able to find a late leveller meaning that City will face either Leeds United or Chelsea in what will be their fourth consecutive FA Cup final.

Incidents: The story of the match

Manchester City Official Line-ups:

James Trafford, Matheus Nunes, Nathan Aké, John Stones, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Mateo Kovacic, Nico González, Phil Foden, Omar Marmoush

Southampton Official Line-ups:

Daniel Peretz, James Bree, Nathan Wood, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Welington, Cameron Bragg, Finn Azaz, Caspar Jander, Léo Scienza, Tom Fellows, Ross Stewart

1':

The match begins

Southampton takes the lead 1-0 with Finn Azaz scoring from outside the box with a right-footed shot.

79':

GOAL Southampton: Finn Azaz (Southampton) scores!

Finn Azaz scores goal number 1 in the competition (4 matches)

The match is now 1-1 as Jérémy Doku scores for Manchester City with a right-footed shot from outside the box into the bottom right corner, assisted by Tijjani Reijnders after a corner.

82':

GOAL Manchester City: Jérémy Doku (Manchester City) scores!

Jérémy Doku scores goal number 1 in the competition (4 matches)

Manchester City lead Southampton 2-1. Nico González scores for Manchester City with a right-footed shot from outside the box into the top left corner, assisted by Jérémy Doku after a corner.

87':

GOAL Manchester City: Nico González (Manchester City) scores!

Nico González scores goal number 1 in the competition (4 matches)

998':

The referee whistles for the end of the match