The FA Cup might not be at the top of Manchester City’s list of priorities, but Pep Guardiola has explained why the competion is still important to his team.
Manchester City’s Premier League campaign will pause for the weekend, due to the FA Cup fifth round ties getting underway.
This break has come at a bad time for Man City, as they recently allowed Arsenal to move seven points clear at the top of the table, after drawing with Nottingham Forest.
However, beating Newcastle on Saturday would be a real morale booster for City and Pep Guardiola sees this potential outcome as something even greater.
Pep Guardiola believes the FA Cup is important to Manchester City
The Premier League and Champions League are always going to be top targets for a club like Man City, but this does not have to come at the expense of other competitions.
Guardiola has been keen to state that the FA Cup is still of great importance to City and he is eager to lead his team past a Newcastle side who will be out for revenge.
Speaking in his Pre-match press conference, Guardiola told reporters: “How many finals and semi-finals have we been to in the last few years? A lot.
“The FA Cup is so important, we are going to travel to Newcastle to try and get to the next round.”
Guardiola has struggled to hack the FA Cup
Since arriving at Man City, Guardiola has won six Premier League titles and four Carabao Cups, but the FA Cup has proved to be more difficult.
City have only won English football’s oldest competition twice under his reign, in 2018/19 and 2022/23.
The past two years have been Man City defeated in the final by Manchester United and Crystal Palace respectively, so Guardiola would love to break this pattern and lead his team to victory.
Right now though, it is too early to be thinking about another trip to Wembley, as a fifth round tie at St James’ Park awaits.
