Manchester City Face Blades For Wembley Final Place

Manchester City’s reward for their 6-0 victory over Burnley is a Wembley date with Sheffield United. The Blades twice came from behind to beat Blackburn Rovers at Bramhall Lane, with City loanee scoring a stunning winner to set up a date with the blues.

Sadly for Doyle, he and fellow loanee James McAtee will be unavailable to face their parent club, but the fixture could also be headache for blues boss Pep Guardiola.

The match against the Blades will be sandwiched between City’s Champions League second leg in Munich and a possible title match at home to Arsenal. United, meanwhile, are encased in a promotion battle and will continue to fight off Middlesbrough for the second automatic promotion spot, with Vincent Kompany’s Burnley almost promoted.

In the other semi-final, Brighton will face the Stretford Rangers to face either the blues or the Blades. The Seagulls overcame Grimsby 5-0 while the red outfit had to wait for Fulham to have two men sent off before coming from a goal down to win 3-1.

April’s match will be City’s five successive semi-final, however, they have only made the final once, beating Watford 6-0 in 2019. The last time City were knocked out of the cup before the semi-final was a 1-0 fifth-round defeat to Wigan in 2018.

No Balloons This Time

The last time City faced Sheffield United in the FA Cup, they were beaten by a balloon. January 2008 saw Sven Goran Eriksson take his City side to Bramhall Lane, where a clutch of balloons covered the City goal. A cross into the box got lost amongst the balloons, but Luton Shelton was able to steer the ball home. United scored again and, although Daniel Sturridge pulled a goal back, the Blades held on.

In fact, that was City’s fourth FA Cup defeat to Sheffield United. Worryingly, the blues have never beaten the Blades in the FA Cup.

Will the blues change history?