This year’s FA Cup final will see Manchester City come up against fellow Premier League side Watford to bring the curtain down on another fine season of English football.
Here is a complete guide on everything you need to know ahead of this year’s showpiece final at Wembley.
FA Cup final 2019
The 2019 FA Cup Final will take place between Manchester City and Watford at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 18th May at 5pm.
This year’s FA Cup Final will also be played in front of a full house at Wembley with tickets now sold out.
It will be the 138th final in the competition’s history with Manchester City eager to win if for a sixth time, while if Watford were to win, they would lift the trophy for the very first time in their 121-year history.
For the Hornets, it is only their second appearance in the final, and on their only previous appearance, they lost 2-0 to Everton back in 1984.
Man City have plenty of experience in the final, with this being their 11th, though it is their first since a shock 1-0 loss to Wigan Athletic back in 2013. In that same year, the Latics were relegated from the Premier League.
The 2019 final will see both sides meet for only the fourth time in the competition, with Man City prevailing twice and Watford once – none of which have come beyond the fourth round.
Here we look at how both sides reached the 2019 FA Cup final.
Manchester City
If you look at the teams Man City have faced on route to the final, you would think they have had it all their own way.
However, they were made to work hard by Swansea City at the quarter-final stage. Championship side Swansea found themselves leading 2-0 heading into the last 21 minutes of the game, only for Pep Guardiola’s side to show their class to come through thanks to goals from Bernardo Silva, Kristoffer Nordfeldt (own goal) and Sergio Aguero.
The Citizens have already picked up some silverware this season, having beaten Chelsea on penalties at Wembley in the EFL Cup, back in February.
The match finished goalless, but Ilkay Gundogan, Aguero and Bernardo Silva scored from the spot for City and even though Kepa Arrizabalaga saved from Leroy Sane, they still won the shootout after Jorginho’s spot-kick was saved by Ederson and David Luiz hit the post.
Man City have won the FA Cup on five previous occasions, with their last win coming back in 2011 with a 1-0 win over Stoke City at Wembley.
The odds on Man City to win the FA Cup seem them as 2/9 favourites to overcome Watford this year, and are a team to be feared having scored 20 goals on their way to the final, and have only conceded three to boot.
Gabriel Jesus, and ironically own goals, are their joint highest goalscorers in the competition, but have spread the goals around with nine different goalscorers throughout the rounds.
Watford
Watford reached only their second ever FA Cup final in dramatic circumstances with a 3-2 win over Wolves in the semi-final last month.
The Hornets looked dead and buried when trailing 2-0 after goals from Matt Doherty and Raul Jimenez.
Gerard Deulofeu pulled one back before Troy Deeney struck an injury time penalty to take it to extra time, where Deulofeu struck again to secure a memorable come-from-behind win.
Much like Man City, they have built their FA Cup campaign on a miserly defence, conceding just three goals, however the Hornets haven’t been as free scoring as Pep Guardiola’s side – scoring just 10 to reach this stage.
They have shared the goals around throughout the competition as well with Deeney, Deulofeu and Etienne Capoue the joint top scorers on two.
Watford are underdogs to win the FA Cup – with odds on the Hornets lifting the FA Cup as long as 11/1 , but they will hope to upset those odds and claim a first ever FA Cup final win.
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