PreambleAnd now for something completely different. Never mind the FA Cup; this is the first time Manchester City and Manchester United have met in the final of any competition. That’s not quite as unlikely as it sounds – Arsenal and Spurs have never met in a final either – but it does make for a unique occasion. Especially as it’s also the first FA Cup final in which two doubles and a treble have been at stake.
City are two games away from joining United in the promised land, an achievement that has been on the cards since Abu Dhabi x Pep Guardiola was launched in 2016. If all goes to plan in the next eight days 2022-23 will be the greatest season in City’s history, the year their awesome dominance of English football reached its logical conclusion.
United aspire to greater prizes than the Carabao and FA Cups. But Rome wasn’t built in a season, and victory today would turn a fine first season under Erik ten Hag into an outstanding one. They beat City 2-1 at Old Trafford in January, although they also lost 6-3 at the Etihad, and they were flattered by that scoreline.
It’s a clash of the titans, 1st v 3rd in Premier League terms, yet it also has a whiff of David and Goliath. Historical odds are a handy gauge of this thing, and United have never been such outsiders for a cup final – not even when they met arguably the greatest club side of all, Pep Guardiola’s 2010-11 Barcelona, in the Champions League final.
In fact, United (3-1) are longer odds to win today than Wimbledon (11-4) were against Liverpool in 1988. And look what happened then.
Kick-off 3pm BST.
Key events
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FA Cup final supplement (part 2) Guardian view: Manchester doing things differently again
Helen Pidd: red, blue and buzzing – excitement builds in Manchester
Jonathan Wilson: the key tactical battles at Wembley
Paul MacInnes: local rivalry becomes global battle for supremacy
Michael Butler: five memorable Manchester derbies
Richard Foster: when City escaped the third tier – as United won the treble
“Good to see Ben Stokes warming up for the Ashes with an FA Cup final,” says Leo in Sydney, a reference to a typo in the possible XIs that has since been airbrushed from history, or would have been but for this email. “Is there anything he can’t do?”
With typos like that, I’m glad David White is no longer playing for City.
The closest these teams have come to playing in a cup final was 12 years ago: the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, with Stoke or Bolton waiting in the final (no offence, although that is quite offensive isn’t it). It was, as the former Guardian writer Nathan Barley used to say, the day the world changed.
Yaya Toure scored the only goal after a mistake from Michael Carrick, and the match was a bookend in Manchester derby history. United will hope to add another today.
FA Cup final supplement (part 1) David Hytner: City look to rub United’s noses in it
Barney Ronay: Narrative overload – FA Cup final is ripe with storylines
Jonathan Liew: The season of Stones, the Barnsley Beckenbauer
Casemiro: ‘I’m a realist, I’m a romantic. Every game is a different film’
Jamie Jackson: Ten Hag ignores treble motivation
Will Unwin: Guardiola urges City fans to have ‘right portion of beer’
Early team news
Pep Guardiola confirmed that Stefan Ortega will start in goal for Manchester City, and that he has a full squad to choose from. Either he’s very lucky, or he has managed this uniquely demanding season like a genius.
Manchester United are without six of their first-team squad, including three likely starters: Lisandro Martinez, Anthony Martial and Antony. There’s an outside chance Antony will be fit enough for the bench.
Possible XIs
Man City (3-2-2-3ish) Ortega; Walker, Dias, Akanji; Stones, Rodri; De Bruyne, Gundogan; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish.
Man Utd (4-2-3-1ish) De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Lindelof, Shaw; Casemiro, Fred; Fernandes, Eriksen, Sancho; Rashford.
PreambleAnd now for something completely different. Never mind the FA Cup; this is the first time Manchester City and Manchester United have met in the final of any competition. That’s not quite as unlikely as it sounds – Arsenal and Spurs have never met in a final either – but it does make for a unique occasion. Especially as it’s also the first FA Cup final in which two doubles and a treble have been at stake.
City are two games away from joining United in the promised land, an achievement that has been on the cards since Abu Dhabi x Pep Guardiola was launched in 2016. If all goes to plan in the next eight days 2022-23 will be the greatest season in City’s history, the year their awesome dominance of English football reached its logical conclusion.
United aspire to greater prizes than the Carabao and FA Cups. But Rome wasn’t built in a season, and victory today would turn a fine first season under Erik ten Hag into an outstanding one. They beat City 2-1 at Old Trafford in January, although they also lost 6-3 at the Etihad, and they were flattered by that scoreline.
It’s a clash of the titans, 1st v 3rd in Premier League terms, yet it also has a whiff of David and Goliath. Historical odds are a handy gauge of this thing, and United have never been such outsiders for a cup final – not even when they met arguably the greatest club side of all, Pep Guardiola’s 2010-11 Barcelona, in the Champions League final.
In fact, United (3-1) are longer odds to win today than Wimbledon (11-4) were against Liverpool in 1988. And look what happened then.
Kick-off 3pm BST.