This will be the third time that Arsenal and Manchester City have met in the FA Cup semi-finals. City, more or less the finished article, are strong favorites to beat the Gunners, who are not yet. But history, plus Arsenal’s unconditional display against new champion Liverpool the other night, suggests that all is not lost.
The city was also a favorite three years ago, and on that April 2017 day at Wembley, it started showing why. They had an incorrectly rejected target. They were controversially denied a strong remedy. They hit the wood twice. Sergio Agüero made the breakthrough, but Arsenal kept in touch, Nacho Monreal forced a draw, and Alexis Sánchez managed a winner in extra time. Pep Guardiola finished the season without trophies for the first time in his career. What fraud! You will never win anything in City, on a wet night in etc., and so on.
Then, in 1932, at Villa Park … well, let’s move on to the Manchester Guardian man, whose report was titled FULL-BACK’S BLUNDER GIVES AN UNEXPECTED ARSENAL SUCCESS, and who may or may not have had some skin in the game. . “Rochdale could not have been completely exaggerated … in 88 minutes Manchester’s goal was only in jeopardy once, during that period his goalkeeper did not catch, kick or deflect a single shot … at half time an elderly Birmingham El Caballero told me that he had never seen such a one-sided semifinal before, and that he had seen one almost every year since Villa won the cup in 1895 … “Manchester City should have at least four goals,” he said. if he was counting possible penalties, “No, that could have made the score six or seven.”
City launched another attack in 88 minutes, only for Arsenal to intercept and counterattack. Joe Hulme kicked the ball forward speculatively, and promised to pass out of the game halfway between the goalpost and the flag in the right corner. Jack Lambert pursued him, and Billy Felton, the city law, confident that he was going to die, was content to try to prevent Lambert’s pursuit. Then they came to the line when, by luck, the ball hit Lambert’s heel and stayed in play. Felton’s momentum pushed him to the limit. Lambert was the first to turn around, kicked the ball to the left, and there was young Cliff Bastin, three yards from the goal and no other opponent within range of conversation. Bastin fired, Len Langford punched the ball, flew up into the air, hit the crossbar, fell back onto the line, bounced off the post, and even the turn was in Arsenal’s favor as he burst into place. away from the net. What a tragedy. Lambert and Bastin embraced like a family reunion … Jimmy McMullan was stunned as a great engineer whose masterpiece of life had been demolished by a paroxysm of nature. “
So there you have it. The city is the workhorse … and they have won the last seven meetings between the two teams with an aggregate score of 20-2 … but Arsenal has history on their side. A perfect setup for a classic FA Cup tie, then. Its on!
Kick off: 7.45pm BST.
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