City make two changes for FA Cup clash with Arsenal

Pep Guardiola has made two changes to his City side for tonight’s FA Cup fourth round tie with Arsenal.

Of the side that beat Wolves last Sunday, Ederson and Aymeric Laporte come out and are replaced by Stefan Ortega Moreno and Nathan Ake.

Ortega Moreno has played in goal in every domestic cup tie this season and maintains that record tonight.

The Blues have elected for a strong line-up, with last week’s hat-trick hero Erling Haaland keeping his place up front.

Tonight is City’s fourth home domestic cup tie of the season, having already defeated Chelsea in both tournaments as well as Liverpool in the Carabao Cup.

Stefan Ortega Moreno is protected by a defence of Rico Lewis, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake.

Lewis will start on the right and Ake on the left, however you can expect Lewis to move in to central midfield when the Blues have possession.

Rodrigo will again be at the base of the midfield with Kevin De Bruyne and captain Ilkay Gundogan in more advanced positions either side of him.

Riyad Mahrez will play high on the right wing and Jack Grealish will do similar on the left, working to supply central striker Erling Haaland.

Going for it

Riyad Mahrez told us on Thursday that City would be going for the win tonight and the team news certainly points to that.

With Nathan Ake, who Guardiola has favoured in many bigger matches this season, and Stefan Ortega Moreno, our usual cup goalkeeper, the only introductions from the Premier League win over Wolves, we mean business.

We’re up against the current Premier League leaders so we’ll have to be at our best.

Oleksandr Zinchenko is on the Arsenal bench, meaning he will have to wait to make his first appearance at the Etihad Stadium since leaving the club in the summer.

The Ukraine international was pivotal in many of our successes under Pep Guardiola and is sure to receive a warm welcome from the City faithful should he get on the pitch.

However, we know the damage he can do if given space so should he feature we’ll have to make sure his threat is nullified as far as possible.

Gabriel Jesus is still injured and not part of the Arsenal squad for tonight's match.
• Man City have won 13 of our 16 meetings with Arsenal in all competitions under Pep Guardiola (D1 L2), only beating Burnley (14) more since the Spaniard took charge. However, both defeats in that run have come in the FA Cup.
• Arsenal have won their last four FA Cup games against Man City. They've reached the final every time they've eliminated the Citizens, winning the trophy on the last three occasions (1971, 2017, 2020).
• Manchester City have won our last nine home matches in the FA Cup, scoring at least three goals in every win and 40 goals in total. The only other team to have won nine home games in a row while scoring 3+ goals in FA Cup history is Blackburn Rovers between 1881 and 1885, a run of 12.
• Arsenal lost their last FA Cup match against a fellow Premier League side, 1-0 at Southampton in the 2020-21 fourth round. They've not lost consecutive such meetings in the competition since January 2010 (vs Stoke) and March 2011 (vs Man Utd).
• Riyad Mahrez has been involved in seven goals in his last five FA Cup appearances for Man City (6 goals, 1 assist) and has netted a brace in each of his last two games at the Etihad (vs Fulham last February & Chelsea in this season’s third round).