This will be the third time Arsenal and Manchester City have beaten him in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. City, practically the finished article, are the favorites to beat the Gunners, who are not, not yet. But the story – in addition to Arsenal’s arduous demonstration against Liverpool’s new champions 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 a wrong goal not allowed. They were controversially denied a strong appeal. They hit the wood twice. Sergio Aguero made the quantum leap, but Arsenal kept in touch, Nacho Monreal forced a tie and Alexis Sanchez induced a winner in extra time. Pep Guardiola ended the season without trophies for the first time in his career. What a fraud! He will never win anything in City, on a wet night etc. And so on, and so on.
Then in 1932 at Villa Park … well, let’s move on to the Guardian Manchester man, whose report was titled FULL BACKREST SUCCESSFUL RESERVED ARSENAL, and who may or may not have had skin in the game. “Rochdale could not have been completely exaggerated … in 88 minutes the Manchester goal was only once in danger, in that period their goalkeeper did not take, kick or put aside a single shot … in the middle time an elderly Birmingham gentleman told me that he had never seen such a one-sided semifinal, and had seen one almost every year since Villa won the cup in 1895 … “Manchester City should have at least four goals ahead”, he said. I asked if he was counting the potential penalty goals. “No, he may have scored six or seven.” “
The city launched yet another 88-minute attack, only for Arsenal to intercept and counter. “Joe Hulme has kicked the ball forward speculatively, and has promised to go out of the game halfway between the goal post and the right corner flag. Jack Lambert chased him and Billy Felton, the City’s right back, confident that he would die, contented himself with trying to prevent Lambert’s pursuit. So they reached the line when, for a luck maniac, the ball hit Lambert’s heel and remained in the game. Felton’s impetus took him over the line. Lambert was the first to turn around, kicked the ball to the left – and there was the young Cliff Bastin, three meters from the door and not another opponent within range. Bastin fired, Len Langford punched the ball, went straight into the air, hit the crossbar, fell back on the line, bounced off the post, and the rotation was also in favor of Arsenal, because broke instead of away from the net. What a tragedy. Lambert and Bastin hugged each other like a family reunion … Jimmy McMullan was stunned like a great engineer whose life masterpiece had been demolished by a paroxysm of nature. “
So that’s it. The city is the shape of the horse … and they have won the last seven meetings between the two teams with an overall score of 20-2 … but Arsenal has a history on their side. So a perfect set up for a classic FA Cup tie. It’s on!
Kick off: 7.45pm BST.
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