City are back in FA Cup action again on Saturday, as Middlesbrough come to Manchester to contest a place in the 5th round. Boro will be looking to capitalise on City’s recent loss against Arsenal, but City will be on the prowl looking for a win ahead of the big trip to Stamford Bridge next weekend.
This is the first game between City and Boro for over five years, with the last game between the pair coming in early January 2010 – also in the FA Cup. That day at the Riverside, Benjani scored a first half goal in order to give City a 1-0 win and passage to the fourth round. Since then, Boro have been stuck in the Championship and City have been unable to face off against their north-east rivals.
Of course, the only City game against Middlesbrough that people really remember in recent times is that infamous 8-1 Boro win back in 2008, which seems to have been brought up on an hourly basis since the draw came out a few weeks ago.
Whilst City do have some injuries to contend themselves with, there’s nothing too drastic to worry about. Frank Lampard misses out with the thigh injury he picked up in the midweek friendly against Hamburg in Abu Dhabi, but should be fit to face Chelsea next week, whilst Samir Nasri is also still absent with the injury that meant he missed the Arsenal game last week. Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony are both still unavailable due to their international commitments.
Both City and Boro are having relatively good seasons, and if Aitor Karanka’s team play their cards right, they could well be back at The Etihad next season, in the Premier League. On Saturday though, a win is probably more important to The Blues, with the FA Cup possibly their most realistic chance of silverware this season. Whilst they’ll feel a certain sense of confidence going into Saturday’s tie, they certainly won’t be taking Boro for granted. That’s come back to bite us before.
