A week after a gruelling 2-2 draw in the English Premier League, Manchester City and Liverpool battle in tomorrow’s FA Cup semifinal (10.30pm).
The other tie is between Chelsea and Crystal Palace.
City is chasing the treble – Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League – while Liverpool, with the League Cup already in its trophy cabinet, hopes to add those three titles to complete an unprecedented quadruple.
No English club has ever won all four, with only Manchester United winning the EPL, Champions League, and FA Cup treble in 1999.
Liverpool did the League Cup, League, and the European Cup (as the Champions League was known then) treble in 1984. It also won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2001.
City, meanwhile, is the only English club to win the domestic treble (2019). So, tomorrow’s Wembley encounter will see the end of either City’s or Liverpool’s quest.
Like last week, City will start as favourites, particularly as many consider it unlucky not to emerge victorious last Sunday.
City showed it knows how to take on Liverpool’s defensive highline last week, and will look to repeat that trick at Wembley.
However, Liverpool’s defensive capabilities are better than it appears to the naked eye.
The Sunday Times newspaper reported Liverpool has caught opponents offside 124 times from 31 matches, 48 more than Manchester City, with Wolves third, with 70 offsides. The league average is 51.1 times.
The problem is with the new rules that see the assistant referees raise their flags at the end of a play, instead of when a player is offside.
So, it looks like Liverpool’s defence was breached when it was not.
Virgil van Dijk has to be at his imperious best if the Reds are to stop the Citizens from claiming a victory.
The Dutchman did not play in the Champions League quarterfinal tie against Benfica, and it showed when the Portuguese club grabbed two late goals.
City, meanwhile, survived a scare against a dogged Atletico Madrid to win its quarterfinal 1-0 on aggregate.
The two English clubs will face Spanish opposition in the semifinals – Liverpool versus Villarreal, and City against Real Madrid.
Chelsea hoped to join them in the last four but fell to Real Madrid. It can make up for it by beating Crystal Palace.
Patrick Vieira is showing his capabilities in his first season at the helm.
The French World Cup winner won the FA Cup four times with Arsenal and would love to get his hands on the trophy one more time.
Separately, Tottenham will seek to strengthen fourth place when it hosts Brighton in the Premier League, while Arsenal travels to Southampton.
Manchester United should grab three points against Norwich, while West Ham will not have it easy against Burnley.
Brentford can put daylight between itself and the bottom three by beating Watford, while Newcastle hosts Leicester.
FA CUP
SATURDAY
Manchester City vs Liverpool (10.30pm)
SUNDAY
Chelsea vs Crystal Palace (11.30pm)
PREMIER LEAGUE
SATURDAY
Tottenham vs Brighton (7.30pm)
Manchester United vs Norwich (10pm)
Watford vs Brentford (10pm)
Southampton vs Arsenal (10pm)
SUNDAY
Newcastle vs Leicester (9.15pm)
West Ham vs Burnley (9.15pm)
