Manchester City faces Port Vale

Manchester City faces Port Vale at the Etihad in a game from the third round of the English FA Cup. We are going to take our attention to this fixture in the next few minutes.

Manchester City are the current holders of the FA trophy. Taking into account that they are basically out of the title race in the Premier League, we can expect to see the Cityzens giving a real fight to defend their trophy. A home game against Port Vale on Saturday is a good opportunity to make a statement.

Manchester City won four of their last games in the Premier League, but this didn’t change anything for them – Liverpool are 11 points away and they even have two games in hand. City’s manager Pep Guardiola officially admitted that his team can’t fight for the title anymore.

Few days ago Man City made a good game against Everton at the Etihad, though. Gabriel Jesus scored twice against Carlo Ancelotti’s team, executing assists from Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez. In this match Guardiola gave a rest to key figures like David Silva, Raheem Sterling, Kyle Walker, Sergio Aguero and Bernardo Silva. Only Silva and Sterling graced the pitch after the halftime.

How are Port Vale doing this season? The Valiants are currently participating in the League Two – the fourth tier of English football. Right now Port Vale are 10th in the League Two standings with 35 points.

John Askey’s team reached the third round of the FA Cup after a 3-1 win over Cheltenham Town in November. The striker Tom Pope was the hero for the visitors, scoring a hattrick for just 8 minutes of time after the break.

We don’t really expect to see Manchester City troubled in any way against Port Vale on Saturday. How we said, Pep Guardiola gave a rest to some of his key players against Everton, so it’d make it even harder for the Valiants.