Swansea look for revenge against Manchester City in their FA Cup fifth round encounter

Swansea welcome Manchester City to the Liberty Stadium on Wednesday night almost two years after their last FA Cup meeting which saw the Citizens win controversially.

This fixture sees two in-form teams go head to head for a place in the quarter-finals. Swansea are unbeaten in ten while Manchester City have set a new record for a top-flight club with 14 consecutive wins in all competitions after humiliating Liverpool 4-1 on Sunday.

Swansea have found their way to the fifth round without much difficulty as they eased past Stevenage and fellow Championship side Nottingham Forest who they beat 5-1. The win against Forest was one of the fourth round’s best results and the Swans will hope to produce another fantastic performance.

However, Manchester City’s incredible unbeaten run, which leads back to November was almost brought to a halt by League Two side Cheltenham Town. The Robins almost caused one of the biggest FA Cup upsets in history, but fitness proved costly as the Citizens scored three late goals to avoid an upset.

Swansea will be looking for their third quarter-final appearance in four years after impressing in the cup in recent years but in their way stand Manchester City, who eliminated the Swans in their triumphant campaign of 2019.

Swansea’s fourth-round hero Liam Cullen is still doubtful after limping off the field in their previous cup match against Nottingham Forest. Wayne Routledge will also be doubtful after the winger was also injured in the previous round. Korey Smith will be looking to return after missing the last four matches through injury.

The fixture could prove to be an opportunity to see first starts for American duo Jordan Morris and Paul Arriola as manager Steve Cooper will be looking to give Jamal Lowe and Andre Ayew a well-deserved break.

Pep Guardiola will be looking to field a similar side to the one he selected to face Cheltenham with the likes of Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte and Benjamin Mendy all wanting to show why they deserve a place in the starting 11.

Guardiola has confirmed that Nathan Ake, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero will all miss out through injury.

Cooper is no stranger to pressure after guiding England’s U17 side to World Cup glory in 2017, but on a club level, this is one of his biggest challenges to date. Nevertheless, the Swans boss has said that his side are excited about the fixture while speaking in his press conference.

“We’re buzzing for every game at the moment. You’ve got to get yourself over the last game and ready for the next one. We’ll prepare as best we can and commit to the challenge.”

Meanwhile, in his press conference, Guardiola stated that his side face a tough test.

“It was a difficult game (in 2019). I don’t expect a different game than when we suffered a lot to go through.

“I know Swansea’s consistency defensively. They are solid, don’t concede chances or goals. They have the quality to play upfront.

“It will be a real difficult test and we will have to do a good performance. I don’t expect any different tomorrow.”

The last time these two met, Swansea were 2-0 up within 29 minutes after a Matt Grimes penalty and former Citizen Bersant Celina gave the Swans some breathing space.

Bernardo Silva pulled one back for the visitors before an Aguero penalty cannoned off the post and ricocheted off a helpless Kristoffer Nordfeldt into the back of the net.

A penalty that should never have been given, but the controversy didn’t stop there as Aguero headed home a Silva cross despite the Argentine being in an offside position.

A packed Swansea crowd will have felt robbed at the end of the match but Wednesday night will be the perfect opportunity for the Swans to get their revenge and they will hope that this cup tie can produce some magic.

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