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40 min: City with the probing again. Saints holding their shape as ever. Kovacic loses patience and tries to force things with a wedge down the right. Too high, over everyone\u2019s head, and out for a goal kick.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 38 min: Now it\u2019s Southampton\u2019s turn to calm things down a bit with a little patient possession at the back.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 36 min: \u2026 and suddenly City spring into life, Kovacic fizzing a pass down the inside left for Marmoush, who enters the area and whistles a low drive towards the bottom left. Peretz kicks clear for a corner. And from the resulting set play, which is worked from left to right, Cherki crosses long for Reijnders who attempts a bicycle kick and \u2026 let\u2019s just award full marks for ambition. To be fair to Reijnders, as the Saints fans chortle, he has the good grace to have a laugh at himself upon getting back up.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 34 min: On the touchline, Pep dictates some technical orders in the no-nonsense fashion. He\u2019s not gone full fidgety yet, but he\u2019s stirring, beginning to prowl.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 32 min: City pass and probe, but there\u2019s no way through. Southampton<\/a> will be as happy with their defensive display so far as their verve in attack.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 30 min: Bree curls a long free kick from the right flank to the far stick. Harwood-Bellis can\u2019t quite get to the ball as it floats out for a goal kick. Southampton<\/a> will be more than happy with the way this is panning out.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 29 min: Southampton<\/a> are gaining in confidence, stroking the ball around nicely. Fellows draws another foul, this time from Ait-Nouri out on the right, and here comes another chance to deliver a free kick into the City mixer.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 28 min: Azaz slips Bree into space down the right. The ball\u2019s cut back towards Stewart, but Kovacic is on point to intercept and clear. Southampton<\/a> not shy in coming forward.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 26 min: \u2026 but then leaves it for Welington, whose floated delivery is easily dealt with by Ake.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 25 min: Cherki carelessly skittles Fellows, who was going nowhere down the inside-left channel. Suddenly this is an opportunity for Saints, a free kick in a dangerous position, 30 yards out. Scienza prepares to swing it in.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 24 min: Foden finds himself in a pocket of space on the edge of the Saints D. He could shoot, but tees up Cherki to his right instead. Cherki, slightly surprised by the generosity, can\u2019t get a shot away in the face of Jander\u2019s pressure. Southampton<\/a> clear their lines.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 22 min: Welington delivers another fine ball, this time down the left to release Scienza into space. Scienza stops, opens his body and crosses long for Stewart, who heads harmlessly over the bar. And then the flag pops up belatedly for offside. Both teams giving it plenty. A cup semi in the sun!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 20 min: Saints don\u2019t take it lying down, and Welington looks for Stewart with a pass down the middle. Not quite.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 19 min: Cherki isn\u2019t far away from releasing the lively Reijnders down the inside-right channel. But Welington has his wits about him, intercepting just in time and flicking clear. City are beginning to turn the screw. And then Kovavic jinks at high speed down the same channel, a run reminiscent of Gazza in his prime. Kovacic reaches the right-hand corner of the six-yard box and swivels to shoot across the face of goal and out for a goal kick. What a solo goal that would have been!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 17 min: \u2026 and now Marmoush dribbles with purpose into the Saints box from the left. But there\u2019s no getting past Harwood-Bellis. This is such a fast, fun match.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 16 min: The game having started in end-to-end fashion, City attempt to establish some control. But their creativity can\u2019t be reined in forever. Or indeed for more than 60 seconds. Cherki and Kovacic take turns to spin elegantly down the inside-left channel, but neither are able to get the better of Bree. This game won\u2019t end goalless. It can\u2019t. It surely can\u2019t.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 14 min: Southampton have shown their intent already. They\u2019re clearly going to take the game to Manchester City<\/a>. No point dying wondering, and hats off to them for that. \u201cAre these the two English teams with the best club anthems?\u201d wonders K\u00e1ri Tulinius. \u201cA beloved gospel song on the one hand and a Rodgers and effing Hart on the other hand, North London Forever doesn\u2019t stand a chance, and I say that as an Arsenal fan.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 12 min: Offside drama at both ends. First up, Marmoush breaks clear down the right, only for Wood to extend a leg and block the shot out for a corner. Then the flag goes up. And then, Stewart releases Scienza down the inside-left channel. He\u2019s clear, enters the box, draws Trafford and slots confidently across the keeper and into the bottom right. Bedlam in the Saints end, but the flag goes up correctly for another offside. Good fun this!<\/p>\n Southampton’s Leo Scienza slots the ball home but he\u2019s denied a goal by the offside flag. Photograph: Dylan Martinez\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.32 EDT<\/p>\n 10 min: The Saints fans, unperturbed, channel their inner Satchmo again. What support. Determined to enjoy Wembley. And then they nearly get something to seriously sing about, Fellows making good down the right and cutting back for Jander, who goes over Reijnders\u2019 leg on the edge of the box. A muffled shout for a penalty, but nobody\u2019s really serious about the call. The ball deflects out for a City goal kick.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 8 min: Reijnders wins a corner off Welington down the right. Nothing comes of the resulting set piece. But this is quite some pressure from City, and Welington has already broken out in a sweat, worried beads dotted across his furrowed brow.<\/p>\n Manchester City’s Phil Foden prepares to take a corner. Photograph: Paul Childs\/Action Images\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.34 EDT<\/p>\n 7 min: Amid that stramash, Foden tried to poke into the bottom right, only for Harwood-Bellis to hoick off the line. Fine defending, but of course that Marmoush offside would have ruled any goal out.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 5 min: \u2026 and City quickly show how dangerous they can be. Marmoush is sprung clear down the right. He cuts back for Reijnders, who lashes a shot off the right-hand upright. In fact Peretz got a touch, and that\u2019s a fine save. Saints somehow hack clear, then the flag goes up for offside, Marmoush having gone too early. It was close, though.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 4 min: Should Saints win this, they\u2019d become the first team from outside the Premier League side to make the final since Cardiff City beat Barnsley in 2008. They\u2019d also become the first lower-division team to beat a top-flight side in the semi since Sunderland saw off Norwich City in 1992. It\u2019s a big ask, but Arsenal have receipts.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 2 min: Saints finally get a touch, and there\u2019s instant hope. Scienza makes good ground down the left but his cross is no use. Electric run, though. The underdogs with a statement of intent of their own.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 1 min: City waste no time in establishing how they plan to go about this. A lot of patient possession. Saints yet to have a touch.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Manchester City get the ball rolling. April. Wembley. Sun. It\u2019s that time of year. What\u2019s not to love?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The teams are out! Manchester City<\/a> in first-choice sky blue with white sash, Saints in their 1976-inspired yellow and blue. Wembley is bouncing, and Southampton\u2019s fans are winning the pre-match singing exchanges. They\u2019re making a rare old racket with their New Orleans-infused spiritual. Blue Moon barely getting a note in edgeways. We\u2019ll be off in a couple of minutes.<\/p>\n Southampton fans give it some. Photograph: Paul Childs\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n Satch swings.Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.20 EDT<\/p>\n Southampton will wear yellow and blue this afternoon, as they have done in the FA Cup all season, commemorating the 50th anniversary of their victory in the 1976 final. Those were the colours they sported at Wembley as Bobby Stokes scored late on for Lawrie McMenemy\u2019s second-division side, shocking hot favourites Manchester United. The commemorative shirt has the signatures of all the players in the cup-winning team woven into the fabric, and rather cutely, only 1,976 individually numbered replica shirts have been produced.<\/p>\n Jim McCalliog, whose precision lob down the middle sent Stokes through for the 83rd-minute winner, has just told TNT Sports that what remained of the match that day were \u201cthe fastest seven minutes \u2026 when the referee blew the whistle I didn\u2019t think it was time. We felt very comfortable out there. We were handing the game, controlling the game. I didn\u2019t have a worry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Pep\u2019s counterpart Tonda Eckert turns his laser gaze towards TNT Sports. \u201cFocus \u2026 we know about the occasion \u2026 we have prepared all week and will be ready \u2026 [Southampton\u2019s long unbeaten run] gives you confidence going into every game \u2026 combined as always with a good sense of humility \u2026 we are going to need both today \u2026 you need to be brave \u2026 they will push us closer to our goal \u2026 we know we will need to suffer \u2026 when we do have the ball we have to be brave to have some spells on it \u2026 we have played some big names in the last weeks \u2026 so we will be fully focused \u2026 it is a big occasion for our supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Pep Guardiola talks to TNT Sports. \u201cThere is potential, obviously \u2026 happy to be back \u2026 Wembley is always special \u2026 a question of performing \u2026 [Southampton are] 19 games unbeaten \u2026 when that happens, we have to be alert because something is going on in that team \u2026 you don\u2019t make 19 games unbeaten if they don\u2019t have something \u2026 we spent time to try to discover how we have to do it \u2026 [a place in today\u2019s City starting XI] is not a gift \u2026 we need energy \u2026 bring energy \u2026 rhythm \u2026 Pep [Lijnders] brings us something new \u2026 Liverpool [with Lijnders and Jurgen Klopp] was incredible \u2026 I learn a lot and am a better manager because of him \u2026 [John Stones] on and off the pitch is just adorable.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Manchester City have made eight changes to their starting XI following the Premier League win at Burnley. John Stones returns from injury to captain the side, while Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marc Guehi, Nico O\u2019Reilly, Antoine Semenyo, Jeremy Doku and Abdukodir Khusanov drop to the bench, rested ahead of the league run-in, but awaiting the call if required.<\/p>\n Southampton make six changes after their eventful Championship draw with Bristol City during the week. Leo Scienza and Ross Stewart, two heroes of the quarter-final win over Arsenal, are among those who return. Taylor Harwood-Bellis captains against his old club, while Flynn Downes is suspended. Shea Charles, who scored the winner against Arsenal, is on the bench.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.32 EDT<\/p>\n The teams<\/p>\n Manchester City: Trafford, Nunes, Stones, Ake, Ait-Nouri, Gonzalez, Kovacic, Reijnders, Cherki, Foden, Marmoush. Southampton: Peretz, Bree, Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Wellington, Jander, Bragg, Fellows, Azaz, Scienza, Stewart. Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u2026 so yes, this is Manchester City\u2019s eighth consecutive season in the FA Cup semi-finals. Their overall hit-rate is pretty good, too: they\u2019ve reached this stage on 20 previous occasions, making it to the final 14 times. But Southampton are pretty prolific as a semi-final concern too: this will be their 14th appearance, and though their success ratio isn\u2019t quite as impressive, they have reached the final four times: 1976 of course, as a Second Division side; 2003 when in the Premier League; and 1900 and 1902 as a Southern League outfit. A pair of semi-final grandees, then, Saints from all the way back to the Victorian era, City relative newcomers as they had to wait for the Edwardian era for their first appearance in 1904. And yes I am killing time until the team news drops.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n Manchester City have had the bit between their teeth in the FA Cup this season. In the third round, they put ten goals past Exeter City<\/a>, becoming the first top-flight club to notch double figures in the competition since Bill Nicholson\u2019s famous Tottenham Hotspur side scored 13 times against Crewe in 1960. They\u2019ve since gone to Newcastle and found the net three times<\/a>, thrashed Liverpool, the reigning champions of England, by four goals<\/a>, and \u2026 well, they only managed two against fourth-tier Salford in the fourth round<\/a>, but let\u2019s not spoil the effect. They\u2019re UP FOR THE CUP, and what\u2019s more, this will be their eighth consecutive FA Cup semi-final in a period which covers 21 matches against lower-league teams, City winning them all to the cumulative scoreline of 84-11. Eight in a row! 84-11! Southampton could be forgiven for not turning up.<\/p>\n But Southampton will turn up, and with good reason. Saints held City at St Mary\u2019s towards the tail end of last season<\/a>, having given Pep Guardiola\u2019s men a good game at the Etihad earlier in the campaign<\/a>. And then there was that<\/a> Nathan Jones inspired League Cup victory early in 2023<\/a>. So this is not necessarily a dream match-up for City, never mind a shoo-in, and that\u2019s before one considers the emphasis they\u2019ll surely, understandably, be putting on their pursuit of the Premier League, with Rodri unlikely to be risked this afternoon \u2026 and that Pep is not immune to being unceremoniously cashiered from the grand old competition, just ask Wigan<\/a>. Oh, and there\u2019s also the manner in which Saints majestically swiped aside Arsenal in the quarters<\/a>: they\u2019re UP FOR THE CUP too, and if Tonda Eckert\u2019s team play like that again, City will have a few problems to solve.<\/p>\n So this is set up deliciously, with both clubs and their fans daring to dream. City have their eye on becoming the first team in history to reach four consecutive FA Cup finals, en route to their third FA Cup lift in eight seasons, and a possible domestic treble. Saints meanwhile want to mark the 50th anniversary of their proudest day<\/a> with their second FA Cup win, and reaching a first final since 2003 is the necessary next step. Could be a cracker; let\u2019s hope so. Kick-off is at 5.15pm BST. It\u2019s on!<\/p>\n
Subs: Donnarumma, Haaland, Doku, Gu\u00e9hi, Bernardo, Savinho, O\u2019Reilly, Khusanov, Lewis.<\/p>\n
Subs: Long, Quarshie, Jelert, Charles, Matsuki, Robinson, Edozie, Archer, Larin.<\/p>\n