FA Cup: Man City v Brighton betting preview, tips, odds & TV details

TV: BBC1, 5.30pm Saturday

Manchester City are one of the shortest-priced FA Cup semi-finalists in the history of the competition and should live up to the billing by comfortably beating Brighton at Wembley.

There have been some surprise semi-finalists down the years - third-tier Chesterfield reached the last four in 1997 and Wycombe matched the feat in 2001 - but here we have a potentially more one-sided contest even though the teams competing are in the same league.

It's the same league nominally.

They are in a different league when it comes to finance, which is then translated into squad quality, and their ambitions are worlds apart. Brighton are aiming to simply survive in the Premier League whereas City are hunting an unprecedented quadruple.

Brighton's only previous trip to the FA Cup final saw them beat City en route, which some superstitious supporters will hope is a positive omen, but that is where the good vibes end. That 1982-83 campaign saw Albion lose the final and suffer top-flight relegation.

Chris Hughton's side have had a nice draw through to Wembley, beating a much-changed Bournemouth in round three before defeating a trio of Sky Bet Championship clubs, ending with a dramatic quarter-final victory at Millwall on penalties.

Much more will be needed to shock City and there has been little evidence of a potential upset in Brighton's 2019 Premier League performances.

Albion have collected eight points from a possible 33, losing all three encounters with the big six, including Wednesday's disappointing 3-0 loss at Chelsea. The defeat leaves Hughton's outfit five points clear of relegation trouble.

It's a semi-final so expect Brighton to fight for every ball but as Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said earlier this week: "City look like the best team in the world."

City have won 20 of their last 22 matches and all facets of their game are in excellent order.

The attacking options speak for themselves with 83 goals plundered in this season's 32 Premier League matches, but they have also managed six clean sheets in eight.

Even more impressively, City have allowed only six attempts on Ederson's goal in their last seven matches - against West Ham, Bournemouth, Watford, Schalke, Swansea, Fulham and Cardiff.

A City win to nil is 8-13 but it may be best to push for a bigger price about the favourites to triumph in a match featuring no more than three goals.

Pep Guardiola's side declared at two in the recent wins over Fulham and Cardiff, and City could be forgiven for thinking of Tuesday's Champions League trip to Tottenham if they hit the front, particularly with top scorer Sergio Aguero a little short of peak fitness.

Recommendation
Man City to win & under 3.5 goals
1pt Evs Betway

Bet on this game at Soccerbase.com

Team news
Man City
Sergio Aguero has travelled - Pep Guardiola says he is "nearly fit". Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabian Delph and Claudio Bravo are out.

Brighton
Solly March and Jurgen Locadia face fitness tests. Pascal Gross is out.

Key stat
Nineteen of Brighton's 22 matches against the Premier League's big six since the start of last season in all competitions have finished with no more than three goals.

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