Patrick Vieira’s men enter the new look competition at the semi final stage this season, which sees five clubs go head to head in a straight knock out for the right to claim the trophy.
In a strange quirk of the fixture list, last year’s cup final between City and neighbours Manchester United took place in August, just eight days before the 2014/15 season kicked off.
United triumphed 4-1 on that occasion, so City will be seeking to make amends this term and claim a first Manchester Senior Cup trophy since 2010 – starting with victory over the Shakers at Gigg Lane on Tuesday.
City come into this clash boasting an excellent run of form, after winning their last five fixtures in all competitions. Vieira’s side are unbeaten since the opening day of the u21 Premier League season in mid-August, and have since seen off the likes of Liverpool, Bayern Munich and AS Roma.
Last time out, goals from Brandon Barker gave City a comfortable win over Fulham in West London, and on another day the margin might have been greater after a strong and cohesive display from the club’s youngsters.
However, with several EDS stars still away on international duty Vieira will be unable to call on the likes of Barker, Ashley Smith-Brown and Mathias Bossaerts for this local clash, while others such as Olivier Ntcham will only have just touched down back on English soil following their own overseas exploits.
Kick off is at 2pm, Tuesday 14 October at the JD Stadium, Gigg Lane (BL9 9HR). We’ll have live updates on twitter and a full match report on mcfc.co.uk shortly after full time.
