Luton Town can book a place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup when they take on Manchester City.
Earlier this season, City lost when they went to Kenilworth Road in the league, but they came back to win 2-1 thanks to goals from Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish. After making the bench against Bournemouth over the weekend due to a recent injury, Grealish might make a comeback to the starting lineup.
Pep Guardiola has discussed how tough the schedule is as City advances in three competitions and enters a crucial week that culminates with Sunday’s Manchester derby. These are a few topics of discussion prior to the FA Cup match.
Rodri record will say a lot
With 59 straight games in all competitions where he has been undefeated, Rodri will set a new record in English football if he continues to go undefeated on his next start for City. He tied Ricardo Carvalho’s 58 goals for Chelsea with his contribution to Saturday’s victory at Bournemouth.
It is not a mark against City that Rodri is the best player in the world for his position; his quality and dedication have been demonstrated on numerous occasions. However, it will show how thin the cover is still for him if he does start at Luton.
Since three players—Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, and Ederson—have more minutes than Rodri does, it is clear that the coaches heard his concerns early in the season that he could not sustain his workload. His continued significance cannot be overstated, though, and it would be shocking if he were to miss out on the record at Luton.
Thanks to a recent regulation change, City will not need to play a replay if they can’t separate the sides after 90 minutes, but they will have to play extra time and penalties. Guardiola mentioned how difficult the Blues’ current schedule is and how the last thing they would want is to play for an additional half-hour on Tuesday night. As a result, if necessary, they may step up their offensive play late in the game.
Away spirit
Compared to last season, when they won the Treble, City has already won more games away from home this year. It is impressive even if it doesn’t necessarily indicate they are better this season or that they will win the Treble again.
Leave a Reply