Manchester City heads to Newport County tomorrow for the first ever meeting in the FA Cup between the two sides and the first contest in any competition since City beat Newport in a 1962 League Cup clash. Newport County Association Football Club, based in Newport, South Wales, are currently in 15th place of League Two, the fourth tier of English football.
Obviously, they are massive underdogs in this fifth round clash and one should expect City manager Pep Guardiola to do a lot of squad rotation in this one. He’ll have one eye on this match, and another on what is ahead- their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie at FC Schalke four days later and the League Cup final four days after that.
City have a true legitimate chance of accomplishing a treble this season, and of course a very very outside chance at a quadruple. Go here for more on that. In looking at the fitness situation, backup goalkeeper Claudio Bravo (achilles) is out long term, while Guardiola ruled out defenders Vincent Kompany (muscle) and Benjamin Mendy (knee) at his news conference on Friday.
For County, manager Michael Flynn should have both Mark O’Brien and Joss Labadie back fit after the duo sat out Tuesday’s defeat to MK Dons. City have a 10-2 goal aggregate advantage in the three previous meetings between the two clubs.
Manchester City at Newport County FA Cup FYIs
Kick-off: Saturday February 16, Rodney Stadium, 5:30pm (BST), 12:30 (EST)
Form Guide (across all competitions):
Newport County DWWWL Manchester City WLWWW
Odds via Betfair: Manchester City 1/16, Draw 15/1, Newport County 35/1
Man City Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Prediction: Manchester City 5, Newport County 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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