Manchester City set to face struggling Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup

Defending champions Manchester City travel to Hillsborough to face Championship side Sheffield Wednesday in an intriguing fifth round FA Cup tie on Wednesday evening.

Fresh from their League Cup triumph at the weekend, City will be looking to boost their hopes of adding the FA Cup to their trophy haul this season by progressing to the quarter finals. The visiting side are looking for their fifth consecutive victory in all competitions

The hosts, Sheffield Wednesday, on the other hand, have won just one of their last eight league matches as their worrying post-Christmas slump continues.

Team news

Josh Windass and Connor Wickham are both cup tied and therefore unavailable for the Owls, whilst injuries mean Moses Odubajo, Massimo Luongo and Adam Reach are unlikely to play. Steven Fletcher though, is expected to feature for at least some of the match.

For Manchester City, Aymeric Laporte is definitely ruled out with a hamstring injury and Leroy Sane is also still on the treatment table after six months out but Sergio Aguero should be available following a knee injury.

Home manager (Garry Monk)

“My priority and focus is purely on a big game against a big opponent tomorrow. All my energy is there at this moment. We’re going to play against the champions of England and we know the quality they have right throughout, one of the best sides in Europe with one of the best managers over the past 15 years. We have to get everything right at a very high level with no mistakes. 

“But we’re not going into it fearing those things, we need to understand the situations we will face and work through them. Our players are good enough to cause problems and compete but what we don’t want to do is self-inflict.We’ve earned the right with two very good performances away from home in this competition. It’s a big challenge, we’re not expected to win but it’s an opportunity to face one of the best and we’ll give it our best for sure.”

Away manager (Pep Guardiola)

“It’s so nice what we have done in the Carabao Cup in the last few years. The FA Cup is always difficult – it’s so important for the country for all the clubs in England. We can go through to the quarter finals and that is what we have to do, be focused on that.

“In terms of success or no success, there are some seasons where you don’t win titles but for the players and manager it’s an exceptional season for the fact of how you improved as a team.”

Head-to-head

City have won seven of the last ten matches between the two sides in all competitions. The last Sheffield Wednesday victory came in a Premier League meeting between the two sides in November 1993; their last success at Hillsborough came a year and a half earlier in April 1992 in a second tier league match.

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