Manchester City v Stoke City – Saturday 14th May – Wembley Stadium (16:00)
Big Spenders Manchester City will clash with Stoke City in the FA Cup Final this Saturday at the famous Wembley Stadium as both teams will go in search of what will be their last chance of silverware for the season.
Man City can end a 35-year long wait for a trophy when they battle Stoke this weekend. The season has been a little disappointing given the money that manager Roberto Mancini has had to spend. However on the bright side they look likely to get one of the four Champions League places ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and are favourites to lift the FA Cup in this match. But fans have been disappointed with the inconsistencies, illustrated well by their most recent match when they couldn’t hold onto the 1-0 lead at Everton and lost 2-1. What was also disappointing was their inability to reach the later stages of the Europa League which is not a good omen for next year’s Champions League. However, a lot of that will be forgiven if they can win at Wembley on Saturday and end the 35 year drought without a trophy. Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has won his race to be fit for the FA Cup final. The Blues skipper, who has scored 21 goals so far this season, will be named on the bench for Tuesday night’s league match against Spurs. The Blues will also have hamstring victim Micah Richards and Gareth Barry back in action, while Pablo Zabaleta is expected to be fit after suffering a late ankle knock in the 2-1 defeat at Everton on Saturday.
Stoke come into this match full of confidence after convincingly beating Arsenal 3-1 last weekend. They’ve worked themselves up to 8th place on the log and the football world has been impressed with not just the results but the style of Stoke City. Tony Pulis is an old-school manager in the best sense of the word. On a limited budget, he has worked wonders. After a bad start in the league, losing their first three matches, Stoke City turned it round to win three of the next four and have continued like that with Pulis managing to keep picking his team up from defeats to go on to take scalps, such after the five match losing run in October and November, they went on to win three on the trot, including a 2-0 victory over Liverpool. They are a very physical team and don’t allow big teams like City to have their way.
Both sides picked up good wins in their respective semi-final matches. Manchester City beat derby rivals Manchester United while Stoke thrashed Bolton 5-0. Stoke won’t make it easy for the star studded City side and a tough match is expected. Man City won the first round meeting 1-0 and are tipped for a narrow victory here.
