Manchester City predicted lineup vs Birmingham City, Preview, Latest Team News, Prediction and Live Stream, FA Cup 2020/21 – Round 3

by Vishal Krishna · January 6, 2021

Manchester City will host Championship side Birmingham City to kick-start their FA Cup campaign this year, and Alley Sport is here with Manchester City predicted lineup vs Birmingham City, Preview, Latest Team News, Prediction and Live Stream. Pep Guardiola’s men were semi-finalists in last season’s FA Cup when they were knocked out by eventual winners Arsenal. City will be looking to go the extra mile and emulate their 2018/19 success in this season’s FA Cup.

City, who were 2018/19 FA Cup winners, were knocked out in the semi-final of the competition last year | Source: BBC, Manchester City predicted lineup vs Birmingham City

Manchester City vs Birmingham City, Match Preview

Pep Guardiola’s City team are in sublime form. Since they lost to Tottenham Hotspur on 21 November, the Citizens have not lost a single competitive fixture. They have progressed from the group stages of the Champions League and will be playing Borussia Monchengladbach in the round of 16. They have also reached the semi-final of the EFL Cup, where they will face arch-rivals Manchester United. City are also 5th in the league with 2 games in hand which can take them to 2nd place, if results elsewhere are in their favour.

City’s last game was a highly impressive 1-3 win over Frank Lampard’s Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. City midfielders had a memorable day out at the Bridge and showed their forwards how to finish, with goals coming form Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden and Kevin de Bruyne.

Their opponents, Birmingham’s form is the exact opposite, with the Blues losing 5 out of their last 6 games and find themselves at 18th place in the Championship. Aitor Karanka’s men face an almost impossible task of beating Manchester City, but football is an unpredictable game and an upset would sit well with the magic of the cup.

The City players form a huddle to celebrate their 3-1 victory over Chelsea in the Premier League | Image: Sports Illustrated, Manchester City predicted lineup vs Birmingham City

Manchester City predicted lineup vs Birmingham City: Latest Team News

Guardiola has a long list of injury-related absentees to deal with. The Spanish tactician would be without the services of new signing Ferran Torres, and fellow forward Gabriel Jesus is an injury doubt. Defenders Aymeric Laporte, Eric Garcia, Kyle Walker and new signing Nathan Ake are all doubtful for the clash. City also have to deal with rivals Manchester United, whom they play in the EFL Cup semifinal before this FA Cup fixture.

Birmingham City will miss winger Alen Halilovic, central midfielder Gary Gardner, full-back Kristian Pedersen and center-back Marc Roberts who are all on the sidelines with injuries.

Also read: Arsenal transfer news latest today – Gunners target Emiliano Buendia and Julian Brandt for January 2021

Manchester City predicted lineup vs Birmingham City

We expect Guardiola to give rest to some of his key players who will be coming into this match off an important semi-final against Manchester United. Goalkeeper Zack Steffen might be given another start, after his good performance against Arsenal in the EFL Cup. Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko could play as full-backs with a potential center-back pairing of Ruben Dias and Fernandinho. Up front, youngster Liam Delap could be given an opportunity against a Championship team. Here’s our Manchester City predicted lineup vs Birmingham City:

Formation: 4-3-3

GK: Zack Steffen

LB: Oleksandr Zinchenko

CB: Fernandinho (c)

CB: Ruben Dias

RB: Joao Cancelo

CM: Rodri

CM: Ilkay Gundogan

CM: Phil Foden

LW: Riyad Mahrez

RW: Bernardo Silva

ST: Liam Delap

Guardiola will want a killer performance from his side against Birmingham in the cup | Image: Getty Images, Manchester City predicted lineup vs Birmingham City

Manchester City predicted lineup vs Birmingham City: Score prediction

We predict this game to be a fairly straightforward victory for Manchester City. The Citizens have the stronger squad on paper and are in stellar form, in contrast to their opponents’ poor run of results of late. We expect the Citizens to defeat Birmingham 4-0.

Manchester City vs Birmingham City, Live Stream

Indian football fans can watch the game on Sony TEN network or stream it live on the SonyLIV app from 1900 IST, while fans in UK can catch all the action on BBC Sport from 1430 BST.

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