Bristol City vs Manchester City Prediction (28.02.2023)

Bristol City and Manchester City will collide this week in the fifth round of this season’s FA Cup.

It’s been 15 long years since Bristol City narrowly missed out on the chance to gain promotion to the Premier League. Now, after flirting with the third tier alongside the Championship, they continue to struggle around the midtable region. Alas, if there’s any competition that can give a team some serious confidence, it’ll be the FA Cup.

A 1-1 draw with Swansea in the third round led to a replay in Wales that Bristol City managed to win 2-1. They then set up this tie with a blockbuster 3-0 triumph at home to West Bromwich Albion.

Domestic football has always been a successful venture for Pep Guardiola and company and this season, their hope is that it’ll be no different. They will, of course, still be one of the favourites to go all the way to Wembley, regardless of their defensive problems. In a tie like this, the focus is simple: make a statement.

City quite literally couldn’t have had a much harder path to get here. They dismantled Chelsea 4-0 in the third round and then in the fourth, edged past Arsenal with a 1-0 win.

Cornick and Mehmeti are unavailable with Conway, Naismith, Wilson, Benarous and Atkinson being injured.

Stones, Laporte and de Bruyne are fitness concerns but in general, Pep is expected to make some notable changes.

The easy and obvious money is going to be on Manchester City to win here and, for the record, that’s precisely what we think will happen. With that being said, the Robins won’t give up without a fight - which is why our primary prediction is over 2.5 goals scored.