Since February of 2018, when Manchester City lost to Wigan, the Citizens have won seven straight in the FA Cup, rolling up an aggregate score of 30-4 in that perfect run of form. City will host Fulham in the FA Cup 4th round on Sunday, and then the following Wednesday, host intra-city rival United in the EFL Cup semifinal.

It’s City’s home leg of the Manchester Derby semifinal tie, and they’ll bring a 3-1 lead into the meeting from the road leg. City boss Pep Guardiola gave a very straight-forward answer about overwork and fixture congestion that can sometimes ensure from advancing through various competitions.

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Sunday marks the first FA Cup meeting between between Manchester City and Fulham FC since 1914! Yes, it’s been 106 years we’ve seen the Sky Blues and the Craven Cottagers face off in this competition, and they’ll get together again at the City of Manchester Stadium this weekend.

City will head into this one feeling pretty fit and healthy, as Benjamin Mendy, John Stones and Aymeric Laporte are all fully back integrated into the team. Their only injury absentee here will be Leroy Sane. Flipping over to the visitors, they’ll be without the services of top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic due to an ankle injury.

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Ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League fixture at Sheffield United, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reflected on the league title race and what might have been. He has long conceded the title race to Liverpool, who are 16 points up with a game in hand to boot.

“We can’t deny Liverpool are extraordinary,” Guardiola said Monday. “But everyday I live thinking about what we can do better. Some games are good, we concede few. We have scored more than Liverpool. I don’t have stats here but we concede more chances and drop points.”

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Second place Manchester City could likely have a major fitness issue in the back line when they travel to seventh place Sheffield United tomorrow night. The reigning back to back champions could be without John Stones because due to a leg injury, and Benjamin Mendy, who is suffering from muscular fatigue.

Additionally, Aymeric Laporte is closing in on a return from a lengthy knee injury, but this match will come too soon for him. It could all add up to a major selection headache for manager Pep Guardiola.

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You know what Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola wants for his birthday tomorrow? A victory over Crystal Palace, which would put his side a minimum of 15 points clear of fifth place. Not that anyone doubts the chances of City finishing in the top four, but with the league title possibility have waived goodbye a long time ago, you got to focus on locking down all the other priorities of the campaign.

City brings a now pretty fit squad to the table for this one. Aymeric Laporte is progressing, and while this match is too soon for him to feature, it won’t be long until he’s back in action.

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Manchester City, who won a domestic treble last season, and finished with Premier League point totals that are among the top three in history the past two seasons, travel to 17th place Aston Villa tomorrow.

It’s pretty easy to size this one up, right? Well, games are played on the pitch, not on paper. Said City manager Pep Guardiola in reference to Aston Villa: “We have to play all the teams. Sometimes they’re at the top, sometimes in the middle, sometimes at the bottom. It’s a historic club. They changed their last set-up in the last game. We’ll try to maintain the dynamic we have.”

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“It’s been a long December,” as Counting Crows would say, for Aston Villa and January is not off to a good start either. Aside from the 5-0 EFL Cup throttling of Liverpool’s youth team, AVFC have just two victories (Norwich City, Burnley) over that period of time.

Now Dean Smith‘s side welcomes in reigning domestic treble holders Manchester City, who can certainly run up the score with the best of them, when motivated, and on their game. Of course, City have had some head scratching results (Norwich City) this season too, so anything can happen. It’s not good for the hosts that they are so injury riddled right now while City is starting to get fitter.

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