Pep Guardiola has always insisted he has huge respect for the FA Cup’s history despite mixed results

It is hard to believe that Manchester City has only won one FA Cup in the last decade — though that total could soon be set to double.

Pep Guardiola’s side visit Championship outfit Peterborough this evening looking to secure a spot in the quarter-finals and head to Cambridgeshire as red-hot favorites.

Their 2018-19 triumph — which included a record-equalling 6-0 win over Watford in the final — marked the last leg of an unprecedented domestic treble.

Three seasons on, could lifting the Cup again be the catalyst for another historic haul? 

Mediocre record

With three Premier League titles and four Carabao Cups on his CV since arriving at the Etihad, Guardiola’s solitary FA Cup win does look rather underwhelming in comparison.

Even assessing their winning campaign in isolation, City was able to stroll to success without facing a team from inside the Premier League’s top half.

Watford, Burnley, and Brighton were the only top-flight opposition they faced, while the lower-league trio of Rotherham, Swansea, and Newport offered predictably little resistance.

Generally speaking, Guardiola’s men have come up short in the competition when drawn to face one of their fellow big sides.

Chelsea dumped them out at the semi-final stage last term, while Arsenal accounted for the Citizens in both 2016-17 and 2019-20.

Priorities

That loss to Thomas Tuchel’s Blues last term came after Guardiola made eight changes to his starting XI, prompting questions over where the competition ranked in his list of priorities.

However, the Spaniard was staunch in his defense when asked if he had paid enough attention to the tie.

Guardiola said: “When a team arrives in the final stages of all the competitions when this team wins four finals in a row in the Carabao Cup, you can’t say that. Just say we lost the game.

“When you lose the game, the decisions are bad, but it is a poor argument, my friends.

“These guys, for 10 or 11 months, fight every game as I’ve never seen before, but now we lose a game against a top side and now we don’t pay attention or respect this competition.

“We respect the FA Cup a lot. We came here to win.”

Source: Livescore.