FA Cup Semi-Final Preview: Man United v Man City

Manchester United and Manchester City will fight it out at Wembley tomorrow for a place in the final of the FA Cup.

Team News

Manchester United:

Wayne Rooney and Jonny Evans are both unavailable for Man United due to suspension. Darren Fletcher will also miss the game, he is back in training but not fully recovered from illness. Owen Hargreaves and Anders Lindegaard are both out injured.

Squad: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Rafael, O'Shea, Brown, Ferdinand, Smalling, Vidic, Evra, Fabio, Valencia, Gibson, Anderson, Scholes, Park, Carrick, Giggs, Nani, Berbatov, Hernandez and Owen.

Manchester City:

Man City will have to make do without their captain, Carlos Tevez, who has been ruled out for up to a month with a hamstring injury. Micah Richards had also been suffering from a hamstring injury but he is fit for tomorrows game.

Squad: Hart, Taylor, Richards, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov, Boyata, Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Y.Toure, Vieira, Barry, Silva, Milner, A.Johnson, Dzeko, Balotelli, Razak and McGivern.

Most Recent Meeting

The last derby match was played on the 12th February 2011, which Man United won 2-1 at Old Trafford. Luis Nani opened up the scoring in the 41st minute. David Silva equalised for Man City in the 65th minute but Rooney won the game for United scoring just 12 minutes before full time.

Head-To-Head

The two clubs have played each other 157 times. Man United have won 65 of the 157 games, they have lost 42 matches against City and there have been 50 draws.

Recent Form

Man United: WWWWW

12th April: Man United 2-1 Chelsea (Champions League)
9th April: Man United 2-0 Fulham (Premier League)
6th April: Chelsea 0-1 Man United (Champions League)
2nd April: West Ham 2-4 Man United (Premier League)
19th March: Man United 1-0 Bolton (Premier League)

Manchester City: LWLWW

11th April: Liverpool 3-0 Man City (Premier League)
3rd April: Man City 5-0 Sunderland (Premier League)
20th March: Chelsea 2-0 Man City (Premier League)
17th March: Man City 1-0 Dynamo Kiev (Europa Cup)
13th March: Man City 1-0 Reading (FA Cup)

Managers

Sir Alex Ferguson:

"It should be an exciting game. We go into it with great confidence, we're playing well and we're ready for it”
"City have a strong squad and they've got plenty of experience. You have to play well to win at Wembley."

Roberto Mancini:

"I have respect for Manchester United because they have won everything for many years”
"To begin with, they won a single trophy after a long time with nothing. Now we are in the same position.
"We can go on to do what United have done. We have a chance on Saturday and for this we should be happy."

Officials

Referee: Mike Dean
Assistant referees: Mike Mullarkey and Peter Kirkup
Fourth official: Chris Foy

Mike Dean has officiated 36 matches this season, showing 125 yellow cards and five red cards.

Dean has refereed three matches involving Man United this season. The first was United's 5-2 away win against Scunthorpe in the Carling Cup. He also refereed United's 2-2 away draw against Aston Villa and the 0-0 away draw against Tottenham.

Dean has also taken charge of three matches involving City; their 1-0 loss against Sunderland, their 2-1 loss to Wolves and their 2-2 draw against Leicester City in the FA Cup.

One Response so far.

  1. DavidTheAlien says:

    Big game this and really too close to call. Anything can happen and probably will, still not convinced on the Wembley pitch and anyone with potential or lingering muscle strains may be in grave danger in this one.

    Will City be up for it or will United use their vast experience in occasions like this and overcome Citeh.

    Should be entertaining and i believe a 2-1 narrow win for United with a generally open game after the first 20 - 25 mins. C'mon united.

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