Manchester City Challenge Plymouth Argyle Miracle

MANCHESTER, FRIDAY – The FA Cup is home to all kinds of football miracles. Some of those miracles have come from Plymouth Argyle, who eliminated Brentford as well as the giant Liverpool. Manchester City will challenge Plymouth's miracles in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Etihad Stadium on Sunday (2/3/2025) at 12:45 AM WIB.

The success of Plymouth in toppling two English Premier League teams deserves serious attention from City. This indicates that Plymouth's victory was not merely a coincidence. Liverpool, which deliberately rested several key players, failed to score despite being reinforced by the attacking trio of Diogo Jota, Federico Chiesa, and Luis Diaz.

The club nicknamed "The Pilgrims" was able to limit the movements of Liverpool players to the extent that they only managed to create one shot on target in the first half. Plymouth's solid defense, commanded by Nikola Katic, was not easily penetrated. This will be the biggest challenge for City's attacking line.

Moreover, in the previous match, City was only able to secure a narrow 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur despite having four golden opportunities. If they do not improve their performance, City's attacking line will face significant difficulties in breaking through Plymouth's defensive wall.

Plymouth Head Coach, Miron Muslic, stated that his players are highly motivated to once again create another surprise in the FA Cup. On the other hand, he feels greatly honored to face City's manager, Pep Guardiola, who is his role model.

"This is the greatest honor of my life, in my career as a coach. So I am very much looking forward to shaking his hand and telling him that he is a great figure in our sport and a very, very big role model for every coach in the world," said Muslic, as quoted by BBC Sport, Friday (28/2/2025).

Muslic stated that he and his staff have studied City's style of play. He also admitted to having a plan to curb the aggressiveness of City's star players.

"City have dominated the Premier League for the last seven or eight years. So it really feels like something really, really big and it really feels like an award," Muslic said.

Although Plymouth often presents miracles, it is considered that it will be very difficult to repeat it again against City. The reason is, City has won the last 18 FA Cup matches against lower division teams. The last time City was defeated by a team from a division below them was against Wigan Athletic in the 2017-2018 season.

Playing at home is also an advantage for City. If the score ends in a draw in normal time, the match will go to extra time and a penalty shootout. In addition, Plymouth will be without several key players such as Muhamed Tijani, Ryan Hardie, Brendan Galloway, and Joe Edwards due to injury.

The FA Cup is City's only hope of winning a trophy after being eliminated from the Champions League and the English League Cup. In the English League, the title has certainly slipped from City's hands because they are 20 points behind the leader of the standings, Liverpool. Therefore, not only Plymouth, but also City players are igniting the same motivation to win the match later.

One of the motivations was shown by striker Erling Haaland who had just recovered from injury. Haaland became the hero of City's victory through his only goal in the previous match against Spurs. The Norwegian striker had brought City to score a second goal but it was disallowed for offside.

"I feel really good. Of course the last weeks have been difficult, but that's life. You have to look forward, you have to keep going, and you have to stay positive because we can still do a lot," Haaland said. (REUTERS)