City’s 1-0 defeat of Chelsea on Saturday means we will play in successive FA Cup finals for the third time in our history.
This is the first we time we have played in the showpiece event twice in back-to-back campaigns since 1954/55 and 1955/56, whereas the first such incident came in 1932/33 and 1933/34.
On both of those runs, we lost the first of the two finals before succeeding in the second.
In 1934, that victory came against Portsmouth whereas the 1956 final was won against Birmingham City.
It is perhaps best remembered for Bert Trautmann’s heroics after suffering a neck injury.
When we do head to Wembley again on 25 May, we will be going for eighth triumph in the competition, having won it in 1904, 1934, 1956, 1969, 2011, 2019 and 2023.
Saturday was our sixth successive appearance in the final four of the competition, a new record.
City enjoyed 62% of the ball against Chelsea but it was tight in terms of chance creation.
We had 14 shots in total, whereas Mauricio Pochettino’s men took 10. However, our shots equated to an xG of 0.84 and Chelsea’s came to 1.16.
287 of our 525 passes, just over half, were played in Chelsea’s half – a lower percentage that we’re used to – but we did keep the pressure on with eight corners compared to Chelsea’s four.
With Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku running at the defence, we completed 10 dribbles but also competed for the ball excellently, winning 53 of the 95 on the pitch.
FA CUP STATS THIS SEASON
Erling Haaland‘s five goals means he is second in terms of most goals scored, despite only playing in two of our five games so far.
Blackburn’s Sammie Szmodics has six but is out, whereas Coventry’s Ellis Simms also has five.
Kevin De Bruyne‘s five assists has him top of that metric with Coventry City’s Kasey Palmer the only player still in the competition next on three.
With four clean sheets in five games, Stefan Ortega Moreno is two shutouts ahead of any other goalkeeper.
