FA Cup final: Manchester City's road to Wembley

Holders Manchester City will look for history to repeat itself on Saturday when they face local rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final for the second successive season.

The Citizens ran out the 2-1 winners at Wembley in 2023 and are 1/3 to triumph in 90 minutes again, with another victory and both teams to score 8/5, and a repeat 2-1 triumph within 90 minutes 8/1.

Although no longer on course for a repeat of last season's Treble, Pep Guardiola's side have already won the Premier League title and they are aiming to become the first English side to record back-to-back league and FA Cup Doubles.

City's run to a 13th final has been occasionally awkward, but they have scored 15 goals and conceded only twice, both at Luton in the fifth round, and are just 1/6 to lift the trophy for the eighth time.

Third round

Manchester City 5-0 Huddersfield Town

City began their defence with a fairly sedate task, brushing aside Huddersfield in a 5-0 home victory.

The Terriers held out for 33 minutes before Phil Foden netted the first of his two goals, controlling Julian Alvarez's poorly struck cross-shot and hammering home past Lee Nicholls.

Alvarez then steered a second home after Foden had himself miscued Matheus Nunes' low cross.

Oscar Bobb instigated a third after the break - the Norwegian the latest to miscontrol as his dabbed cross towards the returning Kevin De Bruyne deflected off Ben Jackson and looped in off the crossbar.

For all that fortune, Foden's second was a beauty. De Bruyne found Sergio Gomez, who turned smartly and passed to Mateo Kovacic, who laid the ball off for the England playmaker to fire home from just inside the box.

Jeremy Doku completed the rout, bundling home De Bruyne's cross from the right.

Fourth round

Tottenham 0-1 Manchester City 

City's fourth-round tie was less comfortable as they squeezed past Spurs 1-0 for their first victory in six visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

After his attacking teammates had spurned a succession of chances, defender Nathan Ake was the unlikely hero, prodding home from close range on 88 minutes after keeper Guglielmo Vicario failed to hold De Bruyne's corner under pressure from Ruben Dias.

That was also City's first-ever goal at the ground and perhaps proved crucial to their successful Premier League title bid, giving them a psychological edge as they went on to beat Spurs 2-0 in their penultimate Premier League game, a result that saw them finally move clear of rivals Arsenal.

Fifth round

Luton Town 2-6 Manchester City

It was the Erling Haaland show at Kenilworth Road in February as City stormed to a 6-2 victory against Luton.

The Norwegian had scored a hat-trick before half-time - his eighth for the club - the first coming via a De Bruyne cutback, while goals two and three saw the Norwegian show too much pace and power for the Hatters' defence.

Jordan Clark then got two back for the hosts, netting either side of half-time.

The first, a contender for the tournament's goal of the season, was a beautiful curling effort just before the break before controlling cleverly on his chest and volleying home his second to make it 3-2 after 52 minutes.

However, it was 5-2 in City's favour just six minutes later, De Bruyne again assisting as Haaland grabbed his fourth, before the forward became the first City player to score five times in a game on two occasions after being found by Bernardo Silva.

Mateo Kovacic completed the scoring with 18 minutes to go, striding on to John Stones' pass and unleashing a dipping effort from just outside the area.

Quarter-finals

Manchester City 2-0 Newcastle United

Bernardo Silva was the star in the quarter-finals, netting both goals in a comfortable 2-0 win over a tired and injury-plagued Newcastle side.

The Portuguese's first took a giant deflection off Dan Burn to ricochet up and over Martin Dubravka before Sven Botman complied for his second, dipping his head towards the ball and making sufficient contact to guide it past the despairing goalkeeper.

With a 2-0 lead after 31 minutes the Citizens threatened to cut loose, but their finishing was off point and the final result didn't reflect their dominance.

Semi-finals

Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea

City rode their luck in the semi-finals, beating Chelsea 1-0 courtesy of another deflected effort from Silva, the 29-year-old redeeming himself after missing his penalty in that week's Champions League quarter-final defeat to Real Madrid.

Guardiola's side won the shot count 14-10, but the Londoners arguably had the better chances, with Nicolas Jackson particularly profligate in front of goal, most notably opting to go around Stefan Ortega rather than firing past the German when put through.

Silva sent City into their second successive FA Cup final with an 84th-minute winner, with the Portugal international firing in a rebounded effort after a Kevin De Bruyne cutback was diverted into his path by Chelsea goalkeeper Dorde Petrovic.