Manchester City lifted their third straight League Cup on Sunday, and now they have the second most titles, all time, in the competition behind only Liverpool. The celebration of another piece of silverware didn’t last long however, as the Citizens moved on to their FA Cup fifth round tie at Championship side Sheffield Wednesday tomorrow night.
“I learn in the big clubs I was before that when they win a trophy they go and take a shower and think of the next,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “It is so nice what we have done but we have another final (at Wednesday). Away in the FA Cup is always difficult.”
“We can go through quarterfinals and that is what we have to do.” Here’s our prediction of what Guardiola may do with his first team selection tomorrow.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction at Sheffield Wednesday:
Bravo; Cancelo, Otamendi, Garcia, Zinchenko; Gundogan, De Bruyne, Rodri; Mahrez, Jesus, B. Silva
Manchester City at Sheffield Wednesday FA Cup 5th Round FYIs
March 4, 7:45 pm, Hillsborough
Team news for both sides: go to this link
Sheffield Wednesday FA Cup form: WW
Sheffield Wednesday form (all competitions): DLLDWL
Manchester City FA Cup form: WW
Manchester City form (all competitions): LLWWWW
Prediction: Manchester City 3, Sheffield Wednesday 0
Wednesday are just simply over-matched against a true juggernaut like this, even when Pep fields a side that’s not as strong as possible.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link