FA Cup 6th Round preview (13-3-2011)

Manchester City vs Reading

Manchester City are going into this game after a disappointing result in Kyiv and will be determined to put things right and advance to the Semi-Finals of the FA Cup. After the result in Kyiv, if City are going to win a trophy this year it’s most likely it’ll be the FA Cup.

Manchester City haven’t made it easy for themselves this year, needing replays to beat Leicester City and Notts County in the 3^rd and 4^th rounds respectively. The 5^th round tie with Villa would have been more testing had Houllier not fielded a weakened side.

All in all Manchester City have had a kind draw this year and will be looking to capitalise on this when Reading come to town. Mancini will have more or less a full squad to choose from, Kolo Toure and Adam Johnson are still unavailable, Balotelli is uncertain, so you’d expect him to go with a full strength squad to try and make it a certainty that City progress into the semi final of this year’s FA Cup.

The key man will undoubtedly be Carlos Tevez, if he performs, City tend to get a result. Yaya Toure and David Silva will be key linking the play from defence to attack, the main decision that Mancini has to make though is who will partner Kompany in the heart of the defence. It’s a decision that may not matter depending on how well the front men play, but nonetheless, you’re going to want a strong defensive partnership as Reading will look to spring the odd counter attack.

Reading on the other hand do have a reputation for knocking out Premier League opposition, they’ve done it four times in the past two seasons and will no doubt be looking to make City their 5^th victims on Sunday. Reading will be confident going into this game as they're on a good run of form; they’re unbeaten in 7 and have won the last 3 games on the spin.

Reading haven’t had the easiest of draws so far in this year’s competition, they managed to beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at home in the third round, had an away draw to Stevenage which they won 2-1 and then no doubt the trickiest tie of all, they managed to beat Everton at Goodison Park by one goal to nil! It probably didn’t quite top their 2-1 victory against Liverpool at Anfield last season, but nonetheless, it’s got them a 6^th round tie at Eastlands against a high flying Manchester City side.

With Reading sitting 10^th in the Championship, they will no doubt be looking to Shane Long in hope he can help propel them towards the dizzy heights of a Semi Final place in the FA Cup. Adam Federici will be hoping to repeat his heroics of the third round clash with Liverpool from last season, he wasn’t a massive hit in the Premier League, but Federici seems to have come on leaps and bounds after a solid couple of seasons between the sticks for Reading. Strong performances from captain Matt Mills and seasoned veteran Ian Harte will be an absolute necessity if they’re to come away with a result on Sunday.

Key Men:

Manchester City: Carlos Tevez

Reading: Shane Long

Score Prediction: Manchester City 2 Reading 0