A trip to Bristol awaits Manchester City on Tuesday night as Pep Guardiola's side take on Bristol City in the FA Cup fifth round.
City put an end to their short run without a win in their last outing, with Phil Foden impressing on his return to the squad as City won 4-1 against Bournemouth in the Premier League. City edged past Arsenal with a 1-0 victory in the last round of the FA Cup, and a trip to Ashton Gate could see Guardiola's side make it through to the quarter-finals.
The two sides met twice back in 2018 in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, with City winning 3-2 away from home and 2-1 at the Etihad. Despite Bristol City sitting 13th in the Championship, they enter this clash in their best form of the season, with Nigel Pearson's side unbeaten in their last 12 games.
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So, could City book their spot in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday? Let's take a look.
We simulated Bristol City vs Man City to get a score prediction
To complete this simulation, we used FIFA 23 and updated the squads with the latest injuries and suspensions.
We predict that the Robins could set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with their line-up as follows: O'Leary; Tanner, Vyner, Kalas, Pring; Williams, James; Sykes, Scott, Bell; Wells.
We predict that City could line up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Ortega; Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Gomez; Phillips, De Bruyne, Silva; Mahrez, Alvarez, Foden.
A heavily rotated City side controlled the opening stages in Bristol, with Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden proving a handful and forcing Max O'Leary into a handful of saves. Alvarez was frustrated after missing a host of chances in the first half, but the Argentine managed to open the scoring in the 41st minute.
A corner was half-cleared by the hosts, with the ball falling to Kevin De Bruyne just outside the box. The Belgian's shot deflected into the path of Alvarez who also had his first effort blocked, but there was no stopping his second attempt, with the striker blasting past the goalkeeper to put his side ahead.
A period of pressure towards the end of the half saw Nahki Wells hit the post for the Robins with a poor strike from close range, with City lucky to take the lead into the break. Both sides continued to create chances in the second half in an even affair, and with 30 minutes to go, Stefan Ortega was called into action to make a fantastic save.
Alex Scott sent a delicious cross towards Wells at the back post, and the striker's header across the goalkeeper was met by Andreas Weimann. From close range, the forward headed towards goal, but Ortega managed to palm the shot away after throwing himself across his line to maintain City's lead.
Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish were both brought on for the final 20 minutes as City continued to put pressure on the hosts' goal, and the latter almost doubled the lead as he struck the crossbar with a curling effort from range. The Robins found themselves getting more desperate in the final moments of the game, and Guardiola's side were awarded a late penalty as they caught the hosts on the break.
Tomas Kalas brought down Grealish inside the box after the winger breezed past the defender, with Haaland stepping up to take. The Norwegian sent a powerful strike into the top corner to make it 2-0 and book City's spot in the next round.
FIFA 23 predicted final score: Bristol City 0-2 Man City
Here are the full-time match stats.
FIFA 23 predicts that despite Bristol City's best efforts, City could emerge victorious, winning 2-0 in the simulation. Creating chances didn't prove an issue for Guardiola's side who were unlucky not to score more, though the hosts managed to catch City on the break multiple times, proving a danger on the counterattack.
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