Haaland will most likely be the tip of the spear in attack. — AFP
FOR Manchester City, winning the FA Cup would merely be a consolation prize.
Having been unable to defend their Premier League title and also failing to even reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the Citizens would at least still have a piece of silverware for their trophy cabinet when, not if, they beat Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium today.
Beggars really can’t be choosers, given the odd season they are having.
Having been quite poor in the first half of the season, their fortunes have improved this year.
And after splashing the cash to bring in new players in January, Pep Guardiola’s team have slowly moved their way back up the Premier League table.
Currently at fourth place (at the time of writing) on the league table, Man City are fighting with four other clubs for the last four berths to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Despite what’s been happening to them, City are still the odds-on favourites to defeat the Eagles and win the FA Cup for an eighth time.
City’s expensively assembled squad are far superior to Palace’s.
Guardiola has a plethora of talents at his disposal, including a few academy graduates.
The Spaniard is expected to field his most experienced players against the Eagles.
Ederson is expected to start in goal, with Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Rico Lewis in front of him.
Mateo Kovacic, Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva should be pulling the strings in midfield.
And in attack, Erling Haaland would most likely be the tip of the spear, while being flanked by Omar Marmoush and Phil Foden.
On the bench, Guardiola still has Jeremy Doku, Savinho, Jack Grealish, Ilkay Gundogan, Matheus Nunes and Nico Gonzalez to call on.
City hold the edge over Palace, having beaten them 39 times in 73 meetings across all competitions.
Palace, meanwhile, have failed to beat City in the league this season, having drawn 2-2 in December and lost 5-2 last month.
The last time the Eagles won against the Manchester club was at Etihad Stadium in October 2021, with goals scored by Wilfried Zaha and Conor Gallagher.
There is no doubt that Palace will harbour some hopes of securing the first major trophy in their 164-year history.
This would be their third FA Cup final, with the first in 1990 when they were beaten by Manchester United.
They also lost in the final nine years ago to the Red Devils, so maybe third time’s the charm?
Like City, Palace also had a slow start to their season but things got slightly better as they progressed.
Currently in 12th place in the league, Palace under Oliver Glasner are playing some pretty decent football, favouring a 3-4-2-1 formation with high-intensity play.
Their path to the final has also been quite good, dispatching Fulham and Aston Villa in the quarter- and semi-finals respectively with 3-0 scorelines.
With Dean Henderson locked in as the first choice goalkeeper, the three centrebacks should be Marc Guehi, Maxence Lacroix and Chris Richards.
Tyrick Mitchell and Daniel Munoz should be the wingbacks with Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma in the centre of the field.
In attack, they should be led by Jean-Philippe Mateta and backed by Eberechi Eze and Ismaila Sarr.
Eze is in fine form and the one player City have to keep an eye on.
The England international has scored five goals in his last four matches in all competitions, including a brace in the win over Tottenham Hotspur last week.
To win the FA Cup would mean so much to Palace’s supporters.
It would really be a massive achievement for Glasner and his team, given the challenges of the Premier League.
