Confirmed XI: Rashford leads the line against City in FA Cup final; Fernandes, Casemiro, Eriksen & Fred start at Wembley

United need to be confident heading into final match of the season

Manchester United take on Manchester City at Wembley Stadium this afternoon in a Manchester derby – the first ever – to contest the Emirates FA Cup. It is going to be a massive match for United, who have been the underdogs against City this season – especially after the 6-3 defeat earlier in the season. However, United did manage to get one over City, beating them 2-1 in the second derby of the season – which was a good result.

City are on a treble this season, which United achieved in the 1998/99 season – the first English club to ever achieve that feat lifting the Premier League, FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. City lifted the Premier League title last month by knocking Arsenal off the top and pushing to get the job done. United ended up finishing third in the Premier League with a game to spare, earning UEFA Champions League football next season – after a season away.

Erik ten Hag has done well this season, ensuring that United have started to ensure they are not defeated many times at home, needing to better his sides away form next season. United lost two matches at Old Trafford the season – once in the Premier League and once in the UEFA Europa League. Nine matches were lost away from home – eight in the Premier League and one in the UEFA Europa League. It has not been a bad season to be fair.

Manchester United

De Gea;

Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Lindelof, Shaw;

Casemiro, Fred;

Fernandes, Eriksen, Sancho;

Rashford

Substitutes

Butland; Maguire, Malacia, Dalot; Pellistri, McTominay; Weghorst, Elanga, Garnacho

Manchester City

Ortega;

Walker, Dias, Akanji;

Stones, Rodri;

Silva, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish;

Haaland

Substitutes

Ederson; Ake, Laporte, Lewis; Phillips, Foden, Palmer; Alvarez, Mahrez

United and City have met 189 times in the they history of both clubs. United have win 78 times, drawing 53 times with City winning 58 times. United and City have met nine times in the FA Cup, winning six times and losing three times. United have scored 18 goals, conceded 11 goals and kept two clean sheets in those matches. United will need to be at the best of their game ahead of this match though and goal will need to be scored to win.

The last time United and City met in the FA Cup was back in 2012 in the third round of the competition. United won that match 3-2 with United taking a 3-0 lead in the first half of the match with Wayne Rooney getting a brace and Danny Welbeck scoring the other goal. However, Aleksandar Kolarov got City back into the game three minutes into the second half with Sergio Agüero scoring 17 minutes later to put City back into the match. It was a memorable one.

Billy Meredith, Denis Law, Brian Kidd, Terry Cooke, Peter Schmeichel, Andrew Cole, Carlos Tevez, Owen Hargreaves, Abbie McManus, Jane Ross, Aoife Mannion, Charlie McNeill (academy) and Jadon Sancho have played for both teams in Manchester. Law, Kidd, Schmeichel, Cole and Tevez are the only players on this list to have lifted the European Cup/UEFA Champions League with City never having achieved that feat in their short history.

Written by John Walker

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I support Manchester United, the greatest English football team to have ever existed. Bruno Fernandes is the latest in a long line of players with great ability to play for the club. I idolised Bryan Robson, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Eric Cantona growing up.