Manchester City v Watford
FA Cup Final – 5.00 pm Kick Off
BT Sport
The FA Cup Final is one of the highlights of the football calendar. It is a chance to pick up one of the most treasured pieces of English history. This is the FA Cup, a tournament which is steeped in heritage having been competed for for the first time back in 1872. It is still going strong and is highly coveted to this day.
City seek the domestic treble
Manchester City have the chance at a domestic treble in their sights. They have already collected the EFL Cup title and then nabbed the Premier League title on a dramatic final day of the season. So now they have to shift mode as they head back to Wembley. They go as the 1/5 odds-on favourites with top bookmakers, to beat Watford in the 2019 FA Cup Final.
The Citizens have won the FA Cup five times before in their history, their most recent title coming back in 2011. So it has been a while since they got their hands on the famous trophy. They did put in an appearance back in the 2013 final but they suffered a loss there as they were upset by Wigan.
That was a huge upset, one of the biggest in an FA Cup Final for a long time. But now City, with their confidence sky high and players in form, the leading bookmakers have them as short as 5/6 odds to win to nil in the final itself. That’s strong odds for them to avoid such an upset again.
Watford seek first ever FA Cup title
Watford have been to just one previous FA Cup final. That was in 1984 when they went up against Everton. The Hornets, who had Graham Taylor as the manager on the day and had a side that featured John Barnes, were 2-0 losers. So this is a rare treat for their fans. There is the bigger prize on offer as well and that is a place in Europe for the Hornets next season.
If Watford manage to pull off the upset on the day from a position of 10/1 underdogs with top bookmakers, then they will be heading to the group stage of the Europa League. There will be no consolation prize for them if they walk away from Wembley empty-handed on Saturday evening. So it is that important for them. Winning would be a great end to this solid season that they have had under Javi Gracia.
City’s straight road to the final
Manchester City were relatively untroubled (as expected) through their FA Cup campaign, at least through the early stages. They posted a 7-0 win over Rotherham and then a 5-0 victory over Burnley in the third and fourth rounds respectively. Then they produced a 4-1 success out at Newport before a meeting with Championship side Swansea in the quarterfinals.
Manchester City had to show a bit of resolve there, too. The Swans produced a fantastic challenge on the day, the Welsh club racing out to a 2-0 lead inside the first 30 minutes. However, Sergio Aguero completed the comeback for City two minutes from time for a 3-2 victory. That put them through to the semi-final against Brighton. The Seagulls simply set their stall out to defend and do little else at Wembley. It wasn’t a classic and a goal from Gabriel Jesus in the fourth minute settled the fixture in City’s favour.
Watford’s epic comeback lands Final berth
Watford’s road to the FA Cup Final got a little dramatic towards the end as well. They opened in a really confident fashion, posting three straight away wins. Their first was a 2-0 success at Woking before making the trip to fellow Premier League side Newcastle in the fourth round, the Hornets winning again by a 2-0 scoreline. They then came through a tricky tie at Loftus Road with a 1-0 win against QPR.
It was Crystal Palace who they faced in the quarterfinals, not an easy game at all. But the Hornets had home advantage at Vicarage Road and made the most of it with a 2-1 success in a tight game. That was despite conceding a lot of possession to their opponents. Then came their epic semi-final against Wolves. Watford looked down and out at Wembley, trailing 2-0 with just over ten minutes on the clock. But then they mounted a dramatic comeback from out of nothing, going on to win the tie in extra time by a 3-2 scoreline.
Man City v Watford Head To Head
In this season’s Premier League meetings Manchester City claimed a win in both games against Watford. Pep Guardiola’s men took a 2-1 win at Vicarage Road in early December, before running out 3-1 winners back at home against them in early March. That is a 10 match winning streak that City are on against Watford in all competitions.
The Citizens scored at least two goals in all ten of those victories. They have met for six previous FA Cup matches and the Citizens are ahead there too with a W3 D2 L1 record. This will be their first meeting in the competition since the fourth round in the 2013/14 season when the Citizens collected a 4-2 home success, Sergio Aguero netting a hattrick on the day.
Summary
It’s remarkable just how big the FA Cup is. A total of 734 teams have fallen by the wayside in this season’s competition to leave just Manchester City and Watford standing. It’s been a long haul since the tournament started back in early August. Without question, it will be Manchester City who will kick off as favourites. But this is the FA Cup and that old magic still exist and Man City only have to look back to that 2013 defeat to have a clear reminder of that.
