Manchester City and Leyton Orient are separated by 45 slots in the English FA pyramid. So you can obviously guess who is strongly favored to win this FA Cup 4th round clash on Saturday. It is pretty cool though how the underdog, with the much smaller home ground of course, gets to host. That really is the beauty and glory of the FA Cup- when Goliath has to go visit David.
Entertaining times will inevitably ensue.
FA Cup 4th Round FYIs
Leyton Orient vs Manchester City
Kickoff: Sat. Feb. 8, 12:15pm, Brisbane Rd, Leyton, East London, UK
Man City Preview Material: Starting XI Prediction Team News
Fun Fact: This is the first time that Man City and Leyton Orient have met since 1966
Given that the richest, most powerful club in the world is facing a side from League One, the third tier of the competition, it’s time for squad rotation. Pep Guardiola will certainly field a weakened side, and we think it looks like this.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction at Leyton Orient (FA Cup 4th Round)
Stefan Ortega; Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Vitor Reis, Abdukodir Khusanov, Rico Lewis; Ilkay Gündoğan, Nico O’Reilly, James McAtee, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish; Divin Mubama.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.