Manchester City v Birmingham City: FA Cup Preview, Team News and Prediction

The FA Cup is back!

This time City face a Championship side down on their luck in Birmingham City.

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England

Time and Date: Sunday, 10th of January 2021, kick off at 13.30pm (UK), 8.30am (EST)

Referee: Robert Jones

Assistant Referees: Edward Smart & Scott Ledger

Fourth Official: Martin Atkinson

VAR: Graham Scott

AVAR: Matthew Wilkes

TV Info: FA Cup Player (UK), ESPN+ (USA), SPORTSNET(Canada)

LiveStream: ***ESPN+ SIGN UP HERE FOR 7 DAY FREE TRIAL (USA)

Preview

City have already secured one trip to Wembley this term, having secured a fourth successive Carabao Cup final appearance following Wednesday’s delightful 2-0 semi-final win at Manchester United.

Pep Guardiola’s side will launch our FA Cup campaign on the back of an impressive 12-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

Aitor Karanka’s Birmingham have endured a frustrating first half to the campaign and currently lie in 18th place in the Championship.

Birmingham have lost five of their last six games, the sole exception being a goalless draw away to Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day.

Team News

Pep Guardiola has confirmed that barring any issues in training Sergio Aguero is likely to start Sunday’s game.

Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus will train and are deemed questionable. As are Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte.

Ederson, Ferran Torres and Tommy Doyle are out with COVID. Cole Palmer and Scott Carson will both be unavailable after more recent positive tests.

For Birmingham, they have Allen Halilovic, Gray Gardner, Kristian Pedersena nd Marc Roberts out with injury.

Prediction

City are the FA Cup holders and I am sure they will take this seriously, but they might put out a rotated side. Whatever team they put out, it will be too strong for Birmingham. City should be good in this one.

Manchester City 3-0 Birmingham City