Coventry City -v- Manchester United
Emirates FA Cup
Wembley Stadium, London
Sunday 21 April 2023, KO 15:30 BST
Manchester United travel to Wembley Stadium on Sunday where they will face Coventry City in the Emirates FA Cup semi-final. The winner of this match will take on either Chelsea or Manchester City to contact the FA Cup trophy at Wembley on Saturday 25 May 2024.
United have beaten Wigan Athletic 2-0, Newport County 4-2, Nottingham Forest 1-0 and Liverpool 4-3 on their route to Wembley. Amad Diallo scored the winning goal against Liverpool back in March which made the Scouser foam at the mouth with it being Jurgen Klopp’s final season.
Coventry have beaten Oxford United 6-2, Sheffield Wednesday 4-1 in a replay after a 1-1 draw, Maidstone United 5-0 and Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 en route to facing United in the semi-final. Manager Mark Robins is well known to United supporters, especially in the FA Cup.
United – Form, Goals Scored & Assists
Bournemouth 2-2 D, Liverpool 2-2 D, Chelsea 4-3 L, Brentford 1-1 D, Liverpool 4-3 W, Everton 2-0 W
Goals: 13 – Rasmus Hojlund, 12 – Bruno Fernandes, 9 – Alejandro Garnacho, Scott McTominay, 8 – Marcus Rashford, 5 – Casemiro, 3 – Kobbie Mainoo, 2 – Antony, Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Anthony Martial, 1 – Amad Diallo, Christian Eriksen, Victor Lindelof, Hannibal Mejbri, Mason Mount, Raphael Varane
Assists: 9 – Bruno Fernandes, 5 – Marcus Rashford, 4 – Diogo Dalot, Alejandro Garnacho, 3 – Casemiro, Scott McTominay, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 2 – Antony, Christian Eriksen, Rasmus Hojlund, Harry Maguire, 1 – Jonny Evans, Omari Forson, Victor Lindelof, Anthony Martial, Lisandro Martínez, Mason Mount, Facundo Pellistri, Luke Shaw
Coventry City – Form, Goals Scored & Assists
Birmingham 3-0 L, Southampton 2-1 L, Leeds 2-1 W, Cardiff 2-1 L, Huddersfield 3-1 W, Wolves 3-2 W
Goals: 18 – Ellis Simms, 17 – Haji Wright, 9 – Matt Godden, Callum O’Hare, 7 – Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, 4 – Ben Sheaf, 3 – Joel Latibeaudiere, Kasey Palmer, Fábio Tavares, 2 – Milan van Ewijk, 1 – Yasin Ayari, Jake Bidwell, Josh Eccles, Liam Kitching, Kyle McFadzean, Bobby Thomas, Victor Torp
Assists: 6 – Josh Eccles, Kasey Palmer, Haji Wright, 5 – Milan van Ewijk, 4 – Jay Dasilva, Callum O’Hare, 3 – Jamie Allen, Ellis Simms, 2 – Jake Bidwell, Joel Latibeaudiere, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Ben Sheaf, 1 – Luis Binks, Matt Godden, Gustavo Hamer, Liam Kelly, Liam Kitching, Fábio Tavares, Bobby Thomas, Victor Torp
Previous Meetings & Connections
United and Coventry have met six times in the Emirates FA Cup. United have won four times, drawn once – which resulted in a replay, losing once. United have scored 13 goals, conceded six goals and kept no clean sheets in FA Cup matches – something that will need to change.
The last time United met Coventry in the FA Cup was back in 1987 with Sir Alex Ferguson at the helm in his early days as United manager. United and Coventry last met in a competitive fixture back in 2007, losing 2-0 in the League Cup with Michael Mifsud scoring both goals.
Alan Brazil, Dion Dublin, Gordon Strahcan, Ashley Grimes, Terry Gibson, Reece Brown, Oliver Norwood, Luke Steele, Neil Wood and Ben Williams have all played for both United and Coventry. Current Coventry manager Mark Robins also played for United.
Team News
Victor Lindelof, Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane, Jonny Evans, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Anthony Martial have all been ruled out due to injury. Harry Maguire, Scott McTominay and Antony should all be in contention to play a part against Coventry at Wembley.
Ten Hag is still without a number of first team players so could continue to add talented youth players to his squad for the match, even if it just means a trip to Wembley, which would be a big occasion for him. Habeeb Ogunneye, Harry Amass and Ethan Wheatley have been involved recently.
Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Jamie Allen are the only injured players for Mark Robins’ side ahead of the FA Cup semi-final this weekend. Coventry seem to be in good shape ahead pf the biggest match of the season for them – which could see then earn an FA Cup final place if they best United.
Predicted United Starting XI – 4-2-3-1
Onana;
Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Kambwala, Dalot;
Casemiro, Mainoo;
Garnacho, Fernandes, Rashford;
Hojlund
Predicted Coventry Starting XI – 4-2-3-1
Collins;
Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Kitching, Bidwell;
Torp, Sheaf;
van Ewijk, Palmer, Wright;
Simms
Match Prediction
United need to hit back and stop their season from crumbling away from them, which is a likely scenario if they do exit the Emirates FA Cup this weekend. United were given the less difficult option of not facing a Premier League side in the semi-final but it will still be a difficult match.
Coventry will want to achieve a place in the final of the FA Cup this season as they will fancy themselves to get to the final following United’s trials and tribulations this season but on paper United have the much stronger side and slightly better recent results.
United will need to take the game to Coventry at Wembley, pushing to break the lines and construct something so that the likes of Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and even Kobbie Mainoo can create or even score the much needed goals to win.
Coventry City 0-3 Manchester United
Written by Paul
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