Paul Merson has shared his thoughts on how the upcoming FA Cup final could go between Manchester City and Manchester United.
After Sunday’s final Premier League game of the season, which could see the Citizens win a fourth title in a row, City will prepare to take on their Manchester rivals in another FA Cup final.
Looking back to last year’s final, the Blues got themselves 1-0 up with just 14 seconds on the clock through Ilkay Gundogan, who then scored City’s second goal of the game in the second half.
Having won 2-1 on the day, Pep Guardiola’s side then went on to win the Treble by beating Inter Milan in the Champions League final a week later.
Now that the two Manchester sides are set to face off again at Wembley Stadium, one pundit has shared his early verdict on how he thinks this match will pan out.
Merson drops early FA Cup final prediction
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In his latest column for Sportskeeda where he previewed this weekend’s final round of Premier League fixtures, Merson had this to say about United and how they could fare in the FA Cup final against City.
He said: “Manchester United are not going to qualify for European football next season by the looks of it – even their goal difference is absolutely atrocious.
“They’ll hope to have some of their injured players back for the FA Cup final against Man City and could use this game [against Brighton] to give those players a few minutes to return to match fitness.
“I give them absolutely no chance against Manchester City at Wembley, even if they have a fully fit squad as their rivals are on a different planet altogether.”
City could embarrass United in the FA Cup again
To reach this year’s final, the Red Devils managed to beat Coventry City in the semi-final by the skin of their teeth on penalties after finding themselves blowing a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 after extra time.
In their semi-final, City secured a 1-0 victory over Chelsea thanks to a goal from Bernardo Silva just three days after getting knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid after extra time and penalties.
Bearing in mind how Erik ten Hag’s side are currently 31 points behind City in the Premier League and have scored 38 goals fewer and conceded 25 more than them this season, it’s clear as day why Merson thinks they have no chance of winning the FA Cup.