Will Manchester City win the FA Cup again next season?
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- Category: Soccer
- Created: Friday, 14 June 2019 14:12
The FA Cup might be the oldest national competition in the world, but there is no doubt that in recent years, it has lost its spark and importance. With the kind of money involved in English football, it is the Premier League and the Champions League that have taken precedence.
Thus, there is no surprise that big clubs in the top flight of English football do not give much importance to the FA Cup, and often Premier League teams opt to field weakened teams and young players in the opening rounds.
Manchester City, though, took the FA Cup seriously this season, and as a result, Pep Guardiola’s side won the competition. In fact, the Citizens clinched the EFL Cup and the Premier League as well to complete a domestic treble.
There is no doubt that they deserve to be favourites on the FA Cup betting, as they were dominant domestically last season. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager has huge respect for the competition as could be seen with his lineups, although they have a deeper squad than any other side in the country.
However, the FA Cup is, by name, a cup competition, and it is not going to be easy for City to win it again next season. After all, all it takes in a cup competition to slip up is a small mistake, and footballers, even though they may be the best on the planet, do make mistakes. Which is why City have to be lucky if they are to win the FA Cup again, and perhaps Guardiola will have to field his best available team right from their opening tie.
The FA Cup is supposed to be a competition where the so-called lesser teams shine and cause shocks, and indeed the smaller teams in the lower leagues do get the better of the bigger teams on occasions, but in the end, the top teams do tend to win it. Since the turn of the century, only Portsmouth and Wigan Athletic have won the FA Cup besides Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and City. Even though the biggest clubs do not take the competition seriously, it seems that they still end up winning them.
Perhaps it will be Liverpool to win the FA Cup next season. The last time the Reds won the competition was back in 2005-06 - the year after they won the Champions League. The Merseysiders won Europe’s premier club competition this season, and perhaps history will repeat itself. Unlike City, Liverpool do not have as deep and strong a squad, but they will be emboldened to compete on multiple fronts after challenging until the last day in the Premier League while also competing in Europe last season.
Manchester United, too, could fancy their chances and perhaps the Red Devils should target winning the FA Cup. After all, it is unlikely that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side will win the Premier League next season, and a run in the FA Cup could be on the cards for one of the world’s biggest clubs.
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