Manchester City will go for ‘100 per cent’ against Newcastle United in FA Cup, says Pep Guardiola

LONDON – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola wants nothing less than “100 per cent” from his players as they prepare for their FA Cup fifth-round clash at Newcastle United on March 7.

The teams are meeting for the fifth time this season – the Magpies won 2-1 in the English Premier League at St James’ Park but lost by the same score in the reverse fixture at the Etihad, while they also lost both legs of their League Cup semi-final against Guardiola’s men.

City are hoping to bounce back from a damaging 2-2 league draw with Nottingham Forest on March 4, which put them seven points behind leaders Arsenal with nine matches to play and a game in hand on the Gunners.

There is relatively less pressure in the FA Cup, but Guardiola still insists that his men – regardless of who plays – have to give it their all.

“How many finals have we played in the last years? How many semi-finals have we played in the last years? A lot,” he said on March 6.

“That means the FA Cup is always so important. We’re going to travel to Newcastle to win to get to the next round – that’s definitely 100 per cent.”

His players have a strong record in the FA Cup, winning 18 of their last 20 matches in the competition over the last four seasons. The two losses came in the 2024 final against Manchester United and in 2025, when City were beaten by Crystal Palace in the title decider.

The seven-time winners, whose last title was in 2023, have a knack of progressing to the latter stages.

In the third, fourth and fifth rounds, City have won their last 23 matches by a staggering aggregate score of 89-11, since losing 1-0 to Wigan Athletic in the 2017-18 fifth round.

It would be an upset if they fail to advance but Newcastle should not be underestimated.

City also have an eye on their huge Champions League last-16 clash with Spanish giants Real Madrid next week, so it remains to be seen what Guardiola’s approach would be for the FA Cup tie.

“Now we play a lot, long travels away where fatigue is involved – travelling to Madrid, coming back, travelling to London (for West Ham United next weekend),” the City boss added, hinting at rotation.

“You have to use all the squad, otherwise it will not be possible to play in the rhythm we want to.”

Magpies boss Eddie Howe, meanwhile, is boosted by a 2-1 Premier League home win over United heading into the game on March 7.

“The crowd react to us. It is our duty to set the tone, we did that against Manchester United (and) they helped get us over the line. We need a ferocious St James’ Park,” he said.

“The games against Man City have all been close. The game we won was close, the games we lost, by and large, have been close and we have had chances against them and haven’t been clinical enough.

“Defensively, we need to be watertight and we want it to be a proper FA Cup tie and one of those end-to-end games and the crowd involved.”

In another match, Premier League leaders Arsenal will travel to take on League One side Mansfield Town. Mansfield boss Nigel Clough has a rich heritage as the son of one of football’s most iconic managers, but FA Cup success has been elusive for his family.

Clough’s father Brian led Derby County and Nottingham Forest to one top-flight title each and won the European Cup twice with Forest, but was never able to get his hands on the FA Cup.

He died in 2004 but his son has kept searching for FA Cup glory, and the 59-year-old has a chance to spring a stunning upset when Arsenal visit Field Mill.

Clough has guided Mansfield to the last 16 of this competition for the first time in 51 years after beating Burnley in the fourth round.

Currently 16th in the third tier, it would be an even more remarkable achievement to knock Arsenal out.

“We actually drew them in the Youth Cup here earlier on this season and they won 4-0. There were two or three players playing that night that would cause us problems in our first team, such is the quality that they have,” Clough said. AFP