Pep Guardiola’s side go up against our city rivals in a 15:00 (UK) kick-off at Wembley hoping to emulate some great City sides of the past.
The Catalan has won it twice before.
He first beat Watford 6-0 in the 2019 final before last season’s success against Manchester United on the way to an historic Treble.
Those wins saw him follow in the footsteps of Roberto Mancini, Joe Mercer, Les McDowall, Wilf Wild and Tom Maley as bosses who led City to FA Cup glory.
Match preview | City v Manchester United
Our first triumph, in 1904, was the Club’s maiden major honour.
It came before many of the current giants of English football lifted the famous trophy for the first time including Manchester United (1909), Arsenal (1930), Chelsea (1970), Liverpool (1965), Newcastle United (1910) and Everton (1906).
Here we’ll take a look at some of the stats that define our relationship with the famous old competition…
Long history
The success of Pep Guardiola’s side in 2023 means that we boast the longest period between our first FA Cup success and our most recent.
The 119 years between those triumphs is 12 more than Manchester United’s gap from 1909 to 2016.
Our place in the 2023/24 FA Cup final means it’s 120 years between our first ever appearance and this year’s Wembley date.
Aston Villa are the only side who can claim a longer association with the showpiece occasion, with 128 years between their 1887 and 2015 finals.
Win ratio
We have won 203 of our 383 FA Cup matches in our long, illustrious history. This is a win percentage of 53%, just better than one win every two matches.
We have drawn 70 and lost 110 of the remaining matches, with the nature of the competition meaning a defeat signals the end of your participation for that season.
Goals scored and conceded
We have scored 737 goals in our 383 matches, at an average of 1.92 per match. Sergio Aguero’s 20 goals makes him our leading scorer in the competition.
The 455 goals we have conceded equals out at 1.19 per match, with the Blues having a positive goal difference of 282 across the FA Cup’s history.
Biggest wins
City’s three biggest wins in the FA Cup all came in the inter-war period of the 20th century.
We beat Swindon 10-1 in January 1930 for our most comprehensive victory, with the 9-0 defeat of Gateshead in 1933 and 11-4 win over Crystal Palace in 1926 the next best.
We have also won 7-0 three times in the FA Cup; against Swindon in 1953, Reading in 1968 and Rotherham in 2019.
Our 2019 final victory, a 6-0 win over Watford, is the joint-biggest win in an FA Cup final in the competition’s history. It’s tied with Bury’s 1903 win over Derby County, the year before City lifted the trophy for the first time.
Most trophies
Our seven successes puts us joint-sixth for the most FA Cup trophies, alongside Aston Villa.
Should we beat Manchester United at Wembley on Saturday, we will join Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur on eight triumphs.
Managers with most wins
Pep Guardiola is the Club’s most successful manager in the FA Cup in terms of matches won, having already tasted victory 35 times in his stint at the Etihad Stadium.
The next best City managers in this tournament are Wilf Wild (22), Les McDowall (17), Joe Mercer (16), Ernest Mangnall and Roberto Mancini (both 13) rounding out the top six.
2024 FA Cup final stats
This match is a repeat of last year’s FA Cup final, where we beat Manchester United 2-1 to complete the second part of their league title, FA Cup and Champions League treble.
Manchester United have lost six of their last seven meetings with City in all competitions (W1), including each of the last three in a row. They last lost four consecutively against them between 2013 and 2014.
Manchester United have won five of their last seven FA Cup games against Manchester City. However, both defeats in that run have come in games at Wembley Stadium (2011 semi-final, 2023 final).
City could complete the league title and FA Cup double for the third time, something only previously achieved by Manchester United (1993-94, 1995-96 and 1998-99) and Arsenal (1970-71, 1997-98 and 2001-02). We did so in 2018-19 and 2022-23, and thus could become the first ever team to do so in consecutive campaigns.
City are aiming to win the FA Cup for the eighth time and for the first time ever in consecutive years. Meanwhile, Manchester United have lost the showpiece in consecutive years once before, doing so in 1957 (vs Aston Villa) and 1958 (vs Bolton).
We have won each of our last 11 matches in the FA Cup; excluding byes and void games, there have only been two longer winning runs in the competition’s history – Blackburn Rovers (20 between 1883 and 1886) and Chelsea (13 between 2009 and 2011).
With Man City boss Pep Guardiola and Man Utd’s Erik Ten Hag meeting in the showpiece last year, this is the first time a pair of league managers has gone head-to-head in more than one FA Cup final (excluding replays).
Kevin De Bruyne has assisted three goals in FA Cup finals, setting up Gabriel Jesus in 2019 and both of Ilkay Gündogan’s strikes last season. No player on record (since 1962) has provided more assists in FA Cup finals than the Belgian (Olivier Giroud also three).
