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Manchester City win the FA Cup (2018/19) with a 6-0 win against Watford

Wow. What a result for Watford. So many people I knew were at the game. Some were Watford fans as obviously I live in Hertfordshire so am bound to know many Watford fans and a couple of my friends were there who were actually Wolves fans as I go to University in Coventry so have met a few people from Wolverhampton which is not far at all from Coventry. I feel for Wolves who are a likable team but fair play to Watford, that's my home town so I should be happy they won really! Saturday 18 May should be a great day, I'm sure football fever will hit Hertfordshire hard. My cricket club has already posted a light hearted joke on FB congratulating Watford but commiserating the selection committee (can't believe many people would play cricket on the saturday if Watford make the final) who knows, I hope cricket matches across Hertfordshire maybe start earlier so we can take a break to watch it like that happened for the WC semi final too. Should be a great day and I'll be back in Hertfordshire by then so hopefully Watford win it!
 
Manchester City can claim a historic domestic treble, while Watford will be looking to cause a major upset in Saturday's FA Cup final at Wembley.

Pep Guardiola's City have already won the Premier League and Carabao Cup.

They will be the first men's team to win the English domestic treble if they beat Watford (17:00 BST).

If the Hornets, who finished 11th in the Premier League table, win a first ever FA Cup, they will earn a place in next season's Europa League.

It would also be the biggest shock in a final since Wigan beat City 1-0 in 2013.

The final is live on BBC One and build-up starts with Football Focus at 13:00.

'He tries to be a model, but he's better on the pitch' - Gomes on Watford team mates
First domestic treble looming?
Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United famously won a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup Treble in 1999.

Meanwhile, Liverpool won an FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup treble in 2001 under Gerard Houllier.

However, no men's team has won all three major domestic competitions in one season in England before (Arsenal Women have won the domestic treble in the past).

City clinched the league last week, finishing one point ahead of runners-up Liverpool, having beaten Chelsea on penalties in the Carabao Cup final in February.

Their last FA Cup triumph was in 2011 when they beat Stoke City at Wembley. In the eight years since then, City have gone on to be crowned champions of England four times and won four League Cups.

"It is a cup final, anything can happen like a red card," said Guardiola, who is seeking to win the FA Cup for the first time in his third season in charge at City.

"In one game, anything can happen. Normally the better team wins but a decision of the referee could make the difference.

"In the Premier League you have another chance and can be more relaxed, but this is completely different."

The last team to win the Premier League and the FA Cup in the same season were Chelsea in 2010.

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Why Wigan give Watford hope
The last team to win the FA Cup outside the 'big six' were Wigan Athletic in 2013. Roberto Martinez's side were relegated from the Premier League a few days after beating City 1-0 at Wembley.

Watford would have to pull off a feat nearly as large to upset City, whose record signing Riyad Mahrez cost £60m - the Hornets' most expensive signing was Andre Gray for £18.5m.

The Hornets, whose only previous appearance in the final ended in a 2-0 defeat against Everton in 1984, started their FA Cup run with a 2-0 win at non-league Woking in the third round.

Watford finished 48 points behind City in the table but boss Javi Gracia, who masterminded a famous win at Spanish giants Barcelona in 2015 when in charge at Malaga, said: "All the experiences you have help you.

"We're going to create chances and if you score like we did when I was in Malaga playing against Barcelona, for example, we won 1-0.

"It was something nobody expected, but it happened and then always you have one chance to win and we have to work for it."

Watford's unlikely journey
Four years ago Watford were playing the likes of Blackpool and Rotherham in league games. Two years ago they were knocked out of the FA Cup at Championship Millwall.

Having achieved a club record Premier League points tally in their first season under Spaniard Gracia - the ninth managerial appointment in seven years under the Italian Pozzo family - these are good times for Hornets fans.

'FA Cup? I'd rather watch basketball' - Watford's Capoue
"The one thing I have been really keen to point out to everybody is that this season is not our day in the sun," chief executive and chairman Scott Duxbury told BBC Sport, before Watford's first FA Cup final appearance for 35 years.

"This is the start of what we want to do. This is where we should be and will be competing.

"We are not going to wait 35 years for another cup final."

Watford's managers under Pozzos
Gianfranco Zola - July 2012-December 2013 (75 games) Quique Sanchez Flores - June 2015-May 2016 (44 games)
Giuseppe Sannino - December 2013-August 2014 (36 games) Walter Mazzarri - July 2016-May 2017 (41 games)
Oscar Garcia - September 2014 (four games - left because of illness) Marco Silva - May 2017-January 2018 (26 games)
Billy McKinlay - September 2014-October 2014 (two games) Javier Gracia - January 2018- (60 games)
Slavisa Jokanovic - October 2014-June 2015 (36 games)

Why Wolves and Man Utd fans want a City win
Wolves fans will be cheering on Guardiola's side, and not just because Watford beat them in the semi-finals.

If City win at Wembley, having already qualified for the Champions League, then Wolves - as the team who finished seventh in the Premier League - will qualify for Europe for the first time since 1980.

Watford fans bid to recreate 1984 'buzz' for FA Cup final
They would go into the second qualifying round of the Europa League, which will be played before the start of the 2019-20 Premier League season.

That would see Manchester United, who finished sixth in the Premier League, qualify for the Europa League group stage, the first game to be played on 19 September.

But if Watford win the first major trophy in their history, that changes everything.


FA Cup final: 10 great goals from the last 25 years
The Hornets, who played in Uefa Cup in 1983, would qualify for the Europa League group stages and Wolves would miss out.

In that scenario United would go into the second qualifying round, which starts on 25 July.

The problem with that?

They are due to face Tottenham at 12:30 BST in Shanghai that day in the International Champions Cup, a pre-season tournament.

VAR and a fourth sub
For the second successive season, the video assistant referee (VAR) system will be used during the final.

Kevin Friend will referee the match, with Andre Marriner taking the role of video assistant referee.

Should the game end in a draw after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time will be played. If the teams still cannot be separated, a penalty shootout will decide the winners.

If the final goes to extra time, both teams will be allowed to use a fourth substitute.

Wembley holds 90,000 people, with both clubs allocated about 30,000 seats.

This season's FA Cup started with 736 teams - 368 competed at the extra preliminary round stage back in August.

Barnet, the last surviving non-league club, received over £500,000 for reaching the fourth-round replay stage.

The BBC has broadcast FA Cup matches live on television from the first round, with Manchester United's fourth-round win over Arsenal attracting a peak audience of 7.6 million on BBC One on 25 January.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48270602
 
Raheem Sterling scored the first FA Cup final hat-trick since 1953 as Manchester City rounded off an outstanding season by crushing Watford at Wembley to clinch a historic domestic treble.

Sterling was the star of the show as Pep Guardiola's team became the first English men's team to achieve the feat of winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup in the same season.

They reaffirmed their status as this season's dominant force as Watford were utterly outclassed, City achieving the biggest FA Cup final win since Bury beat Derby 6-0 in 1903.

Watford's best chance of over-turning the odds came early on when City keeper Ederson saved at the feel of Roberto Pereyra and they were furious when referee Kevin Friend waved away penalty claims after Vincent Kompany blocked Abdoulaye Doucoure's shot.

The contest was effectively over from the moment David Silva finished from close range after 26 minutes, Sterling doubling the advantage before half-time by turning in Gabriel Jesus's goalbound shot.

Watford rallied briefly after the break but were always wide open to the counter attack.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48236232
 
Lots of people I know were there. City thrashed them. Watford should have gone 1-0 up, they missed a great chance early on. It could have been a different game had that gone in.
 
Man City missed a golden chance of an unprecedented quadruple. I am sure Pep is over the moon with the domestic treble, but deep down he will be gutted. Spurs' fluke win at Etihad was quite annoying - everything went their way, hopefully Liverpool would beat them.

Liverpool vs Man City would have been an incredible final, but sadly, it wasn't meant to be.
 
Lots of people I know were there. City thrashed them. Watford should have gone 1-0 up, they missed a great chance early on. It could have been a different game had that gone in.
Nah.

Brighton scored a goal early on against this city team but they are the best team in England currently, they would have come back harder.
 
Man City missed a golden chance of an unprecedented quadruple. I am sure Pep is over the moon with the domestic treble, but deep down he will be gutted. Spurs' fluke win at Etihad was quite annoying - everything went their way, hopefully Liverpool would beat them.

Liverpool vs Man City would have been an incredible final, but sadly, it wasn't meant to be.

How likely is Liverpool to win the CL against this Spurs side?
 
Nah.

Brighton scored a goal early on against this city team but they are the best team in England currently, they would have come back harder.

I'm not saying City would have lost, but it would have been a more entertaining game had Watford gone 1-0 up. Pressure would be on City
 
Man City missed a golden chance of an unprecedented quadruple. I am sure Pep is over the moon with the domestic treble, but deep down he will be gutted. Spurs' fluke win at Etihad was quite annoying - everything went their way, hopefully Liverpool would beat them.

Liverpool vs Man City would have been an incredible final, but sadly, it wasn't meant to be.

Fluke win? Manchester City's defenders played dreadfully and Pep's tactics were bizarre again. That's not a fluke. Spurs also rightfully won 1-0 against City at their stadium, because Pep got cocky and idiotically didn't play a full strength lineup, and it cost him in the end. He's put out poor tactical lineups since his Bayern days now in the UCL, I'm not sure why.

Also it's funny how City winning the FA Cup and doing the treble is such dead news already. Nobody cares about them, oil money can't buy you fans unfortunately.
 
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