Manchester City vs Exeter City (FA Cup Third Round): Match Preview, Team News, Head to Head, How to Watch | OneFootball

Manchester City go into the third round of the FA Cup looking for their first win of 2026 as they face Exeter City at the Etihad Stadium.

Wednesday night saw the Blues welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to the North-West with hopes of returning to winning ways following on from two bitterly disappointing stalemates to begin the brand new calendar year.

Erling Haaland opened the scoring by calmly converting a penalty in the 41st minute, awarded after Jeremy Doku was brought down inside the box. City went into the interval with a 1-0 lead, perhaps fortunately, as Brighton arguably created the clearer chances in the opening 45.

As had been the case in the previous two matches, City’s lack of killer instinct came back to haunt them. Just 15 minutes after the restart, Kaoru Mitoma slipped past his marker and drilled a low effort through Nico’s legs and beyond the outstretched Gianluigi Donnarumma to restore parity.

With Brighton retreating into a more compact shape after the equaliser, Manchester City again found it difficult to convert sustained pressure into decisive moments, despite a flurry of half chances in the last 10 minutes.

The story was once again familiar: City dominating possession and registering nearly three times as many shots as their opponents, yet falling short when it mattered most.

There were still positives to take, however; particularly the performances of Max Alleyne and Abdukodir Khusanov. Injuries to Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol have raised questions about squad depth, but Wednesday’s display suggested City’s two youngest centre-backs may be more than ready to play a significant role moving forward.

Pep Guardiola’s side must now turn their attention to the FA Cup as they face Exeter City for the first time, with the Grecians currently sitting 14th in League One having lost just one of their last five matches.

Exeter have made light work of their cup opposition in the opening two rounds, rolling over fellow League One side Wycombe in a 4-0 home victory, after beating National League Halifax Town 2-0 in the opening round.

Many would assume that the result of this next match is a foregone conclusion, but the FA Cup is known for being full of upsets and shocks, and so write off the magic of the cup at your own risk.

Here is everything you need to know ahead of Manchester City against Exeter this weekend!

Match Details

Manchester City host Exeter City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday 10th January at 15:00 GMT.

Match Officials

Adam Herczeg will officiate Manchester City for the first time in his professional career on Saturday afternoon

Checkout the full list of match officials below!

Team News

Both Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri have made it through to the quarter-final of the African Cup of Nations, with their fixtures both taking place on Saturday and as such they remain unavailable for selection.

Savinho could be set to miss up to two months of action, according to Pep Guardiola, adding to fellow injury-induced absentees in John Stones, Mateo Kovacic, Oscar Bobb, Josko Gvardiol, and Ruben Dias.

One name that will be a welcome addition is Antoine Semenyo, signed by the club on Friday morning and confirmed to be part of the matchday squad against the Football League outfit this weekend by Pep Guardiola during his pre-match media duties.

As for Exeter City, the visitors will be missing 35-year-old striker Josh Magennis due to an ankle injury.

Head to Head

The two clubs have never met in an official match, despite both teams having existed for over 120 years. Whichever team wins also earns the ultimate bragging rights, leaving the Etihad Stadium with a 100 per cent win rate.

Pep Guardiola Press Conference Notes

On Antoine Semenyo: “I don’t know if he will start [vs Exeter] or not, but he will be selected for sure. We don’t have too many players.”

Max Alleyne has shown he is ready to play more first-team football at Manchester City between now and the end of the season, says Pep Guardiola.

On Exeter City: “When I arrived here 10 years ago, when we played teams from the lower divisions like League One or Championship, always it’s typical football. And now you see teams and how they’ve evolved. They play really good!

“I saw the game against Huddersfield and Cardiff, the last two games they played and recently, and this didn’t happen 10 years ago. Huge respect, and always I believe that the best way to respect this type of competition, it’s how you play, defend, press, many, many details to do well. That is the best way to respect Exeter, or all the teams you play.”

On Oscar Bobb: “He’s not trained with us since the game against Brentford, the Carabao.”

Statistics

Despite having never met in an official match the two teams have met twice in friendlies: in 1991 for Steve Neville’s testimonial, and in 1996 in pre-season. Exeter won the first 1-0 with Manchester City winning the second 1-3.

Since losing 2-0 to Middlesbrough in January 2015, Manchester City has won all 15 of their home FA Cup matches, scoring 65 goals in the process. The all-time record for a league club in the FA Cup is 16 consecutive home wins by Liverpool (1939-1955).

Exeter’s record FA Cup win came when they beat Weymouth 14-0 in the 1908/09 season. Manchester City’s came in 1930 with a 10-1 win to Swindon Town

Exeter City have never won the FA Cup. Their best performance in the competition is reaching the quarter-finals (Sixth Round) on two occasions, in the 1930/31 and 1980/81 seasons.

In the 25/26 season Exeter have scored an average of 1.04 goals per game whilst conceding 0.96 per game. Manchester City have scored 2.14 and conceded 0.90 a match this season.

Manchester City have won their last 19 FA Cup ties when facing opposition from a side in the lower division.

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell has experience of beating Manchester City in the FA Cup before. He was in the Wigan Athletic squad that beat City 1-0 in the 2013 final.

How To Watch

The game has not been selected for broadcast and so will not be available to watch live in the UK. Radio coverage will be available on BBC Radio Manchester.

For viewers in the USA, the game will be broadcast on ESPN+

Check out the full global TV listings HERE.

City Xtra will have full live coverage available on our X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram channels throughout matchday, with content also provided on cityxtra.co.uk!