There is a trip to Wembley Stadium on the line when Bournemouth host Manchester City in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Sunday.
When making predictions for how the season would come out, not much would have predicted that City would be good from the Premier League title and the Champions League would be by the time the international break came from March.
But in the run-in, City is in the table in the table, good drift of runaway leaders Liverpool, and the FA Cup is now their only chance to save some silverware from this campaign.
City of the eight quarter -finalists are seen as the favorites. After all, they won the competition twice under Pep Guardiola.
However, they will be confronted with a strict test at the Vitality Stadium.
A trip to the Vitality Stadium for our #Facup quarterfinals
#Asahisuperdry pic.twitter.com/gh8jn2onpg
– Manchester City (@Mancity) March 26, 2025
The Cherries looked good to insist on Champions League qualification earlier this season, although the Andoni Iraola team has been immersed lately.
They have lost three of their last four Premier League matches, and in one draw in that run they threw a 2-0 lead against Tottenham.
That order left them in the 10th, although that is the busy nature of the race for Europe, they are only four points behind the city, and on their day Bournemouth has already proven that they are able to give each team a game.
With the chance to claim a place in the FA Cup-Halve Final for the first time in their history, the cherries will certainly be for these. Here we dive in some of the most important songs prior to Sunday's collision.
What is expected?
Bournemouth has already defeated this season, with a 2-1 victory in the Vitality Stadium in November and brought their first triumph against the citizens in all competitions.
City 19 had won in 21 earlier meetings, with the other two games.
However, this will be the very first FA Cup meeting between Bournemouth and City.
It is only the third time that Bournemouth has had to deal with the ruling English champions in the competition. On both earlier occasions they lost: March 1957 (1-2 V Manchester United) and January 1961 (0-1 v Burnley).
While Man City is made the small favorites, the Opta model predicts a sleek meeting.
The Guardiola team came to the top 43.2% of the data -led SIMs for the competition, while Bournemouth won 31.5%.
There is a good chance that this match operating level, at 25.3%, so don't be surprised if this draw goes the distance to penalties.
Bournemouth wants a cherry on the cake
Whatever happens in the run-in, whether they secure European qualification through the competition or not, it has been a brilliant season for Bournemouth.
Indeed, the cherries can struggle very well to hold coach Iraola in the low season, so was the excellent work he did during his supervisor.
And they have the chance to conclude what has already been a good campaign with a trip to Wembley.
And who knows, it might be even more if they indeed succeed in switching off the city. There is no reason why Bournemouth should fear with one of the teams left in the competition.
Bournemouth scored eight goals this season in three FA Cup matches, while registering 8.94 expected goals; From teams left in the tournament, only the city has higher figures in both metrics (13 and 12.95).
The cherries have an XG against 2.42, after they have admitted twice from six shots on goal -oriented – of the teams left in the competition, only the city confronted with few shots on goal.
This is simply the third performance of Bournemouth in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, where the cherries with 2-1 losses against Manchester United in 1956-57 and 3-0 against Southampton in 2020-21.
Bournemouth is advanced from their last two FA Cup tires against top-flight opponents (against Everton and Wolves in the fourth and fifth rounds of this season), as much as they had in their previous 17 such tires.
Last chance of glory
City, beaten finalists last season, won the FA Cup twice under Guardiola, in 2018-19 and 2022-23.
They have won their last 14 -matches in the competition, score 40 goals and admit 10. Their last defeat on the road came to Wigan Athletic in February 2018, with their last four FA Cup losses in Wembley Stadium.
City has won their last seven FA Cup quarterfinals tires, with these in the last eight campaigns (exceptions are 2017-18).
Their series of reaching the semi -final in six consecutive campaigns is already a record in the competition.
They made hard work to beat Plymouth Argyle in the fifth round, but eventually came across the line and are the only team of the traditional 'Big Six' in the competition.
City has passed for a season to forget, but they have the chance to save silverware, although Guardiola has insisted that his team does not earn a form of “bonus” for their efforts this period (albeit in connection with potential prize money from the World Cup club).
Of the teams that have reached the quarterfinals, City has generated the highest XG (12.95), scored most goals (13), most shots (73), shots on goal (29) and have the best shot conversion rate (17.81%).
Players to watch
Bournemouth – Antoine Semenyo
Semenyo scored earlier in the season in Bournemouth's victory over Man City and he is definitely one to watch in this draw.
The wing player had 14 shots in the FA Cup this season, with half of them in Bournemouth's fifth round draw against wolves. Only Luke Molyneux (19) has had more shots in the competition.
Semenyo has nine goals in all competitions and has also added five assists. He scored in a 5-1 win over West Brom in round three and in a 2-0 win in Everton in the fourth round.
Manchester City – Kevin De Bruyne
De Bruyne scored and assisted in the victory of City in Plymouth, and the Belgian was involved in 13 goals in his last 10 performances in the FA Cup (three goals, 10 assists).
Indeed, in his entire FA Cup career for the city, De Bruyne is in 32 performances on 28 target contributions (10 goals, 18 assists).
Since he signed for City in 2015, De Bruyne has contributed to more FA Cup goals than any other player, with Tottenham's son Heung-Min Next at 26.
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