Manchester City meets with Watford in the final of English FA Cup. The match will be played on Saturday, May 18th at Wembley Stadium (London)
Despite the elimination from the Champions League, the season is not a failure for the Citizens. City managed to win back the backlog from Liverpool and won the Premier League. In addition, the Citizens showed a 14-match winning streak in the championship. However, MC did not arrange one romp after another. In the last 18 official games, Manchester City gained only 2 victories with an advantage of 3 goals or more: one - at Etihad over Schalke, which was awful at that moment, the second - over Brighton, which had no tournament motivation. In a duel with Leicester, the Citizens scored only 1 goal, and even after the crazy shot of Kompany. In the away game with Burnley, City also scored only once and even killed the clock in the last minutes. Guardiola understood that it was impossible to lose points, so he did not hesitate to resort to football tricks.
| 2 x £10 Free Bet | Review | |||
| 100$-500$ for No Lose Free Bets | Review | |||
| 100% up to £200 | Review | |||
| Not available | Review |
Watford did not excel in the final matches of the Premier League, but this fact has an excuse. After a misfire with the Wolves, the Hornets had very small chances of getting the 7th place. Therefore, it is not surprising that priority was given to the cup final, and the team finished the championship matches without motivation. Before the key game with the Wolves, Watford performed quite well. Just remember a duel with Arsenal, when the Hornets remained in the minority at the beginning of the first half but continued to assail the Gunners’ net furiously. Watford did not manage to score points in the away match with mentioned Manchester City, but it avoided a romp.
We have rarely seen the romps in the FA Cup finals. In recent years, only Arsenal managed to beat Aston Villa with a big score. However, I remember the draw in the regulation time, when the Gunners played with Hull City in 2014. And a year earlier, Manchester City sensationally lost in the final, although playing with an outsider of the Premier League, which relegated to Championship after the end of the season. Therefore, I do not expect a smashing victory of City. The Citizens’ path to the finals was not easy. Yes, Guardiola used rotation, but even in this scenario, City was head and shoulders stronger than its opponents. But in the end, City beat Brighton with a minimum score was losing to Swansea (2:0) before the halftime. In the match with Newport, City scored the 3rd and 4th goals in the end of the meeting. Watford played with the teams from the Premier League in 3 out of 5 cup rounds and scored 2 goals in each of those meetings. Of course, the team’s defense fails, but at the same time, the Hornets score a lot. They managed to score in both meetings with City in this season. And they can score in the upcoming final, considering that the Citizens have fatigue accumulated during the season. Watford avoided a romp even at Etihad, and I'm sure that the Hornets will also give a battle to the champions of England at Wembley.
Prediction for the match: Watford to win with +2.0 handicap
