So finally after the last six FA cup draws giving us an away Premier League fixture, Manchester City face Huddersfield Town away. Although we are favourites to win the tie it could be a potential banana skin for Pep Guardiola and the team.
The route to the last 16 has been far from a struggle for City thus far: first destroying West Ham on our first visit to the London Stadium, then comfortably showing our attacking flair with the 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace. Now comes the short trip over to Yorkshire with what I believe will be our toughest test in our FA cup campaign.
With City getting back to the kind of football that we saw in our first 10 games our confidence is running high. Ignoring the game at Everton it was been a great start to 2017 for the blues. The front three of Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sané and Raheem Sterling look terrific and very exciting for us fans. Vincent Kompany is ready to fight for his spot and Pep seems to have found a formation and at least the attacking part of his starting XI. Things are looking up for us!
What to expect?
David Wagner has worked wonders this season with Huddersfield. This being his first proper managerial job since working under Jürgen Klopp at Dortmund it has definitely been worth the risk. Huddersfield have had a spell at the top of the Championship, beaten title challengers around them and currently look to finish in a playoff position or potentially better. Most recently they have beaten top of the league in Brighton and only two weeks before we visit them have completed the double over their local derby rivals Leeds United. The home advantage will play into the hands of Huddersfield with them only losing two games at the John Smith’s stadium this season, they have also only lost one in their last 13.
Twitter: Impartial opinion. Aaron Mooy is the best midfielder in the #Championship #HTFC (@the_ron23)
The plus point is that Aaron Mooy can’t play due to being on loan from City. I would have liked to see against us as it would have been a great way to get the City fans to see what he’s about. Mooy has been terrific and many Town fans see him as their player of the season, some even saying he is the player of the Championship. He runs that midfield in a way such as Fernandinho does for us, just with less red cards. David Wagner could also be absent from the touchline after the West Yorkshire derby this weekend. In true Klopp style, he sprinted to celebrate the late winner with his players which then created a mass brawl with players and management staff on his way back to the technical area. At the time of writing there has been no repercussion but the FA could wade in by the time we visit Yorkshire.
What City will turn up?
With the constant media pressure on Guardiola, I don’t think he will ‘disrespect’ to the Cup. He needs the trophy as do the fans so I think he will go strong. We all want to see the dynamic and entertaining attacking five players that have had us purring the last couple of weeks but I don’t think it will happen. With the free-scoring Monaco coming to the Etihad four days after this game I expect to see a few players rested. I think Sergio will be back up top which is hardly a disaster, is it? I expect to see Kompany back starting while Pep still eases him back into the XI. I would like to see Delph given another chance to show his worth, I also see Bravo given a chance again. Even if it requires a little bit extra to break the deadlock I’m sure just a short cameo from Jesus will yield results, the kid is on fire!
Just Bournemouth away to contend with and we are back to the beauty of the Cup. I hope to see a large and loud support in Yorkshire and I am looking forward to the test. Let’s get ourselves another trip to Wembley.
