Pep Guardiola insisted he will take Manchester City's FA Cup third round clash against "hometown club" Salford City in their quest to reclaim the trophy they lost last year. (More Football News)
Guardiola's side reached the final of last year's competition but were beaten 2-1 by rivals Manches𒀰ter United back in May at Wembley.
After a torrid end to 2024, the Citizens started the new year with a comfortable 4-1 victory over West Ham, earning back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since October🐟.
And Guardiola will be confident of overseeing three co꧙nsecutive triumphs in all competitions given City's excellent r♛ecord at this stage of the FA Cup in recent seasons.
They haven’t been eliminated in the third round of the FA Cup since 2011-12, when they lost 3-2 ;to Man United. Includ💛ing replays, they’ve won their last 🌃11 third round matches by an aggregate score of 46-4.
Since losing 1-0 to Wigan in the FA Cup fifth round in 2017-18, City have also 🍎won their last 24 matches against sides from a lower division (across both the EFL Cup and FA Cup) by an aggre🌸gate score of 88-12.
Saturday's meeting with the Class of 92 owned Salford🐼 will be their first ever encounter in all competitions, and Guardiola intends to give the clash his full attention.
"I’ve lived in Salford fo🌞r the last eight years, so I will be playing a🌊gainst my neighbourhood, my home town," Guardiola said.
"I have a lot of respect for the mana♔ger [Karl Robinson], we played years ago at Oxford and when he was assistant to Sam Allardyce at Leeds.
"The last six games, six clean sheets and six victories, so I have huge respect foꦕr t🍃hem and what they do, the intensity, and we will take it seriously, like we always have done.
"Hopefully, we can play a good game and make it three wins in a row – it’s a long tim🥂e since it happened."
Guardiola was also on hand to distance the club from rumours linking them with a m𓃲ove for Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush during the January window.
Marmoush has been the standout fo𝓰r Dino Toppmoller's side this season, registering 29 goal involvements (18 goals, 11 assists) across all competitions this campaign.
The E𒅌gyptian's 13 Bundesliga goals is a total only bettered by Bayern Munich's Harry Kane (14), while he has had more shots (64) than any other player in the division.
"I was clear in my answer - I'm not going to𓄧 talk. He's a player from another club, I'm not saying an a𝔍nswer.
"You can say in every single press conference to talk about the transfer wi꧟ndow until the end, I🍨'm not going to answer one question!
"In the past, the same happened. I was clear. You can try it a🎃ny time you want, no problem at all, but you know my answer🎉. It’s easy. No comment."
