(Football news) Both sides go to the FA Cup quarter finals after their respective victories over Nottingham Forest and Luton Town, whom the Citizens crushed 6-2 and the Red Devils narrowly defeated 1-0.
The unstoppable Erling Haaland followed in the footsteps of one of Manchester United’s most famous forwards by scoring five goals in a single game for Manchester City. This wasn’t the first time in his career that he had done so, and the FA Cup holders easily advanced to the final eight of the 2023–24 competition at Kenilworth Road.
Becoming the first player since George Best 54 years ago to net at least five goals in one FA Cup fixture for a top-flight club, Haaland was set up by the equally excellent Kevin De Bruyne on four occasions before completing another quintet of strikes on the 58-minute mark, after which Mateo Kovacic capped off the decimation with a sublime sixth later on.
Two efforts from Jordan Clark – the first of which Haaland would have been immensely proud to score himself – offered Luton a slice of encouragement before Pep Guardiola’s juggernaut ran riot, meaning that back-to-back trebles are still on for the reigning English and European champions as spring approaches.
Sitting second in the standings with a one-point gap to make up with Liverpool, the Citizens will fall further behind their foes if the Reds overcome Nottingham Forest on Saturday, but after having their 11-game successful streak snapped against Chelsea, Guardiola’s men have responded with consecutive 1-0 league wins over Brentford and Bournemouth.
The hosts’ unbeaten run across all tournaments has now stretched to 18 matches, and should Man City find the back of the net at least once in Sunday’s derby, they will equal their club record of scoring in an outrageous 55 home games running; a feat they previously achieved between January 2012 and January 2014.
After being humiliated on their opponents’ field in 2021–22 and 2022–23, Manchester City will play their hardest to tie a club record on Sunday. Meanwhile, their previously boisterous neighbours want to avoid losing three straight Etihad matches for the first time in the Premier League era.
The last two away games Man United has played in the Premier League against Man City have seen them allow ten goals to pass them. However, Andre Onana and company shut down Nottingham Forest in Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth-round match, where a Casemiro header in the closing seconds set up an intriguing matchup with Liverpool in the final eight.
Still on a collision course to potentially meet Manchester City in a repeat of the 2022-23 FA Cup final, sinking the Tricky Trees was the perfect tonic to last weekend’s chastening 2-1 home loss to Fulham in the top flight, where Alex Iwobi’s injury-time winner condemned Erik ten Hag’s troops to their 10th top-flight loss of the season after a steady period of progress.
Sixth place in the table belongs to Manchester United after 26 matches, but Aston Villa currently boast a healthy eight-point lead over the Red Devils in the fourth and final Champions League place and will momentarily increase their advantage to 11 should they emulate Man City by beating Luton on Saturday.
Together with Aston Villa vs. Liverpool, no Premier League matchup has seen more away wins than the Manchester derby. Ten Hag’s team may wear the underdog badge when they take the field at the Etihad, especially after their crushing 3-0 loss to Man City in October. However, they have a perfect record of six wins from six games when travelling in 2024.
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