FA CUP FINAL SATURDAY: Less than a week after being crowned Premier League Champions, Man City bid for more silverware on Saturday in the FA Cup Final at Wembley. Standing in the way are Watford. We preview the match with a recommended BETDAQ bet and extended stats.
MANCHESTER CITY V WATFORD
5pm After lifting the Premier League title last weekend, Manchester City bid for a treble on Saturday afternoon as they take on Watford in Wembley. City aim to become just the fourth team to win both domestic cups in the same season after their win in the Carabao Cup; and they are heavy odds on favourites to now add the FA Cup.
The match odds at the time of writing currently trade; Manchester City 1.25, Watford 14.5 and the draw is 7.4. It’s fair to say that Watford finished their Premier League season extremely poorly, however they have probably had one eye on their Final for while a quite. They went from possibly finishing a clear 7th to actually falling out of the top half of the Premier League. We still feel it’s hard to read too much into their recent form though; for a side like Watford this is such a massive day it’s hard to see them not bringing their A-game and being very well prepared.
It’s still very difficult to see past a City win here. They finished the Premier League season so impressively while under immense pressure from Liverpool. Even more so when they were knocked out of the Champions League and anything but a Premier League title would have been a disaster for them. They have been absolutely superb and one wonders how Watford can stop them scoring here, especially on the big Wembley pitch.
Pep Guardiola has faced Watford six times and come away with six wins. Perhaps this is a case of ‘how many’ rather than will City win. The markets are expect an open game with over 2.5 goals trading short at 1.56 – we expect goals here but those odds look a little tight and we’re happy to skip over that bet. We much perfer Any Other Home Win at 3.8 (Man City to score four or more goals and win) in the Correct Score market.
Watford have lost their last ten games against City in all competitions while conceding 32 goals along the way. Watford have been good this season – as their place here would point out – however they have consistently conceding goals along the way and we can see City picking off this Watford defence once they get ahead. An early goal for City will see Watford chasing the game and we could perhaps see City scoring even more than four.
City have been excellent this season and would be very deserving of the domestic treble, Any Other Home Win looks the value at 3.8 in what should be a very good game to watch. We can see City finishing off their season in style.
BETDAQ BEST BET:
Any Other Home Win at 3.8.
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MATCH STATS
- Manchester City could become the first team to win the domestic treble in England, having already won the Premier League title and League Cup this season.
- Manchester City are looking to become just the fourth team to win both major domestic cup competitions in the same season, after Arsenal in 1992-93, Liverpool in 2000-01 and Chelsea in 2006-07.
- This will be Manchester City’s 11th appearance in an FA Cup final and their first since 2013, when they lost 0-1 to Wigan. They’ve won the competition five times (1904, 1934, 1956, 1969 and 2011).
- Watford’s only previous FA Cup final appearance came in 1984 under manager Graham Taylor, losing 0-2 to Everton at Wembley.
- Watford’s 35-year wait for a second FA Cup final appearance is the longest since 1967, when Chelsea appeared in their second final 52 years after first featuring in 1915.
- No team to finish in the bottom half of the top-flight table has ever beaten the side to finish top in an FA Cup final – the previous lowest was in 1957, when 10 th placed Aston Villa beat champions Manchester United.
- Man City have eliminated Watford from the FA Cup in each of their previous three ties, winning 3-1 in 1996-97, 3-0 in 2012-13 and 4-2 in 2013-14; Watford’s only elimination of City in the FA Cup was in the 1985-86 season in the fourth round.
- Watford have lost their last 10 matches against Manchester City in all competitions, conceding 32 goals in those games. They are winless in 15 games against the Citizens (W0 D2 L13) since a 1-0 win in March 1989 in the second tier.
- Gerard Deulofeu is Watford’s highest scorer in all competitions this season (12). Nine of his 12 goals this season have come in his last 13 games, with the Spaniard scoring Watford’s winner in their semi-final victory against Wolves.
- Sergio Aguero has been involved in 12 goals in just seven appearances against Watford for Manchester City in all competitions (10 goals, 2 assists), including two hat-tricks – one of which was in a 4-2 FA Cup win in January 2014.
- Sergio Aguero has scored 32 goals in all competitions for Man City this season – only in 2016-17 (33) has he scored more in a single campaign for the Citizens.
- Since the start of the 2011-12 season, Man City striker Sergio Aguero has scored 18 FA Cup goals – three more than any other player; the Argentinian has scored in every round he’s played in barring the final, failing to score in the 2013 final against Wigan.
- This will be the first FA Cup final between two managers of the same nationality since 2008 (Dave Jones and Harry Redknapp). It’s only the second time it’s happened when the managers aren’t British, with the other being in 2001 between Frenchmen Arsene Wenger and Gerard Houllier.
- Either Pep Guardiola or Javier Gracia will become the third Spanish manager to win the FA Cup, after Rafael Benitez (2006, Liverpool) and Roberto Martinez (2013, Wigan).
- In his entire managerial career, Pep Guardiola only has a better 100% win record against four teams than he does against Watford (six wins out of six) – Malaga (8/8) and Hannover 96, Werder Bremen and West Ham (7/7).
- Pep Guardiola could become just the eighth manager to win the English top-flight, League Cup and FA Cup, after Bill Nicholson, Don Revie, Joe Mercer, Kenny Dalglish, George Graham, Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho; Mercer achieved the feat with Manchester City.
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