The 144th FA Cup final is upon us, and it’s Crystal Palace and Manchester City going for glory at Wembley.
Palace are appearing in their third FA Cup final, while City are looking to get their hands on the trophy for the eighth time.
Here’s our pick of the facts and stats ahead of one of the biggest games of any season…
Crystal Palace v Manchester City (Saturday, 4:30pm BST)
This will be the fourth FA Cup meeting between Crystal Palace and Manchester City, who last faced each other in 2016/17, Pep Guardiola’s first season in charge of City.
City ran out 3-0 winners in that fourth-round tie at Selhurst Park, but it’s actually their smallest FA Cup victory over Palace – way back in the 1925/26 fifth round, they demolished the then third-tier Eagles 11-4 at Maine Road!
Palace have frustrated City in recent Premier League meetings, though, holding them to a 2-2 draw in December’s encounter in South West London. Oliver Glasner’s side also led 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium last month (before falling to a 5-2 defeat).
Needless to say, Palace will be determined to avoid a repeat of that most recent clash, as they try to make it third time lucky in FA Cup finals – while City look to make it two wins out of three, having beaten Manchester United to lift the trophy in 2023 then lost to their arch-rivals last year.
Chelsea were the last club to win an FA Cup final having lost the previous one – the Blues lost to Arsenal in 2017 then beat Manchester United in 2018 – while City have achieved the feat themselves on two previous occasions: in 1956 under Les McDowall and in 1934 under Wilf Wild.
In a way, Palace have also played in successive FA Cup finals before: in 1990, a 3-3 draw with Manchester United forced a Wembley replay – which United won 1-0.
Palace’s next final appearance, in 2017, was also against United – and, just as they had done in 1990 through Gary O’Reilly, they took the lead, this time courtesy of Jason Puncheon (cue manager Alan Pardew’s infamous dad-dancing on the touchline).
Here’s a potential good omen for Palace, though: City have conceded the first goal in six FA Cup finals (including in the 1981 replay against Tottenham) and lost all of them.
Victory for Palace would see them qualify for a major European competition (they’ve previously played in the Anglo-Italian Cup and Intertoto Cup) for the first time in their history.
For City, who have already guaranteed European football for next season and are well-placed to clinch Champions League qualification via their league position, it’s more about ending what has been an underwhelming campaign by their exceedingly high standards on a positive note.
Not since Guardiola’s first season at the club have City failed to win any silverware.
