After suffering FA Cup final heartache last season, Manchester City begin their quest to go one better on Saturday with a third-round tie at home to local rivals Salford City.
This is the first ever meeting between these two Greater Manchester sides as City face a team part-owned by a number of former Manchester United players, and it would rank among the biggest ever FA Cup shocks if Salford were able to get a result this weekend.
Manchester City -3 handicap - 6/5
Manchester City have endured their worst ever spell under Pep Guardiola this season but they are perhaps starting to turn it around. The Citizens have seven points from their last three league games and they can avoid an FA Cup embarrassment by beating Salford with plenty of room to spare.
There is a huge gulf in both quality and experience here. Saturday’s game will be Salford’s first ever appearance at this stage of the world’s oldest cup competition and it is just their third ever game against a Premier League side, previously they have lost 3-0 to Everton (September 2020) and 4-0 against Burnley (September 2023).
Guardiola will undoubtedly shuffle his pack for this FA Cup game against lesser ranked opposition but that may actually work out better when backing City to cover a -3 handicap.
The players coming in will feel they have a chance to force their way into an out-of-form team, whereas in previous years even a herculean individual performance probably wouldn’t have been enough to dislodge a regular City starter.
Salford are going well in League Two and they come into the game on the back of a six-game winning run, during which they haven’t conceded a single goal, but their focus this season will be promotion and there is little expectation on the Ammies ahead of this cup tie.
City have a great record in the FA Cup third round and have conceded only four goals at this stage of the competition in their last 11 games, scoring 46 themselves.
If the Citizens do manage to break the deadlock early they could run away with this tie and backing them to win by four or more goals looks a reasonable starting point in a game where they are rated massive favourites.
James McAtee to score at any time - 6/4
James McAtee has featured regularly on the City bench this season but hasn’t seen much game time.
The 22-year-old was a regular on loan at Sheffield United last term and managed five goals across all competitions, including two strikes in as many games in the FA Cup.
McAtee has scored in Europe for City this term and has been in good scoring form for the England Under 21s with five goals in Euros qualification, so he looks a decent candidate for an anytime effort against Salford.
Ossama Ashley to be booked - 15/4
Salford’s midfield and defence face a busier afternoon than they are generally used to and that could lead to a couple of cards being dished out.
An obvious candidate for a caution is Salford card magnet Ossama Ashley, who has picked up eight yellow cards in 23 league games and was booked in the first round win over Shrewsbury.
Five of Ashley’s League Two yellow cards have come in his last five games and he could well make it six in six at the Etihad.
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Manchester City v Salford City odds
Manchester City - 1/20
Draw - 14/1
Salford City - 22/1
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.