Man City v Plymouth

Manchester City’s favourable FA Cup draws continue with a home tie against 22^nd placed, relegation-threatened Championship outfit Plymouth Argyle.

Manchester City were handed a home tie in the Third Round versus neighbours Salford from League Two, where they ran out resounding 8-0 winners before travelling to League One’s Leyton Orient in the Fourth Round where, after a scare when Jamie Donley’s outrageous long-range strike came off the crossbar and ricocheted into the goal off the back of Stefan Ortega to give Orient a 1-0 lead, City won 2-1. 

Plymouth Argyle have been the fairytale of this season’s FA Cup – twice already knocking out Premier League opposition. Firstly, they beat Brentford away 1-0 whilst they were in managerial purgatory – the game taking place after Wayne Rooney had departed but before Miram Muslic had been appointed with coach Kevin Nancekivill and captain Joe Edwards taking charge of the fixture.

Miram Muslic was in the dugout by the time Argyle continued their FA Cup exploits by beating an understrength Liverpool team 1-0 at Home Park. 

⭐ Man City v Plymouth Best Bet

Argyle’s run in the competition will likely end at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening - Prices of around 1.05 for a Manchester City win tell you that. Manchester City are in a position where they can go all out for an FA Cup win, with it now being their only chance of any silverware this season.

Finding a way to get onside with City in the most price-effective way is the way to go with handicaps, Half time-Full time and win both halves all options. But I prefer to play Manchester City to win to nil, which takes the win price of 1.05 to a more palatable 1.62.

Manchester City have won 20 matches across all competitions this season and have kept clean sheets in 50% of those victories. 

🟢 Man City v Plymouth #WhatOddsPaddy Tip

In a match that has a lopsided look with a heavily short odds-on favourite, let's use that to take a swing at something for a bit of fun at a much bigger price. 

It’s plausible that Manchester City could take an early lead here. Against Salford in the 3^rd round tie at the Etihad City, they were in front in the 8^th minute when Jeremy Doku scored. 

It’s just as plausible that Manchester City force an early corner. City had 10 corners in the 4^th round fixture at Leyton Orient. 

And it’s possible that a highly charged Plymouth Argyle team, who we know play with aggression and robustness, will pick up an early booking. 

We combine the three together here in the bookies specials market. 

👕 Man City v Plymouth Predicted XI

🔍 Man City v Plymouth Players to Watch

🟢 Nikola Katic

Plymouth Argyle’s improvement centres around the signings of 2 Eastern European defenders in the January transfer window, Nikola Katic and Maksym Talovierov. The 2 centre-backs embody what is needed to perform and succeed in a Miram Muslic setup.

They are highly combative, competitive players who perform on the fringes of aggression and show a clear love for the art of defending, celebrating tackles like a striker would a goal. There are occasions where the aggressive nature of Katic’s and Talovierov’s defending brings them to the referee's attention. 

Nikola Katic has made 6 Plymouth Argyle appearances so far and is averaging a foul a game. His foul numbers read 1-0-2-0-2-1. In his last matches, versus Cardiff, he was given his first Argyle yellow card. 

Katic signed for Plymouth from Swiss club FC Zurich, where his foul numbers through November and December – his last 7 matches for the club read 0-2-0-1-2-3-1.  

With Manchester City likely to be camped inside Plymouth Argyle’s half, the amount of opportunity to foul increases with both Katic and Talovierov looking a good bet to have the referee whistling. Katic is the shade better value. 

🟢 Matthew Sorinola

Despite losing 2-0 to Liverpool last weekend, Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku made headlines by dribbling past Trent Alexander-Arnold on no fewer than 12 occasions. Doku’s style leads to him collecting plenty of fouls – 1.7 per game this season. There’s no guarantee that Doku will start here, and gametime on the left wing could be given to Jack Grealish. Grealish suffers even more fouls than Doku, at an average of 2.58 per match this season. 

Whether it be Doku or Grealish, Plymouth Argyle’s right wing-back Matthew Sorinola is going to be up against a dribbly foul-magnet player, and Sorinola isn’t shy of putting his foot in. In all competitions this season, Sorinola averages 1.25 fouls per game. His foul numbers read as follows: 1-1-0-2-0-1-0-0-0-2-2-0-1-2-1-0-3-2-0-1-1.  

Sorinola has had multiple foul games on 5 occasions this season and may have to resort to being physical if he’s to shackle Doku/Grealish 

📂 Man City v Plymouth Cheat Sheet

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💻 Man City v Plymouth Form and Tactics

From October 30^th until Boxing Day, Manchester City won just one of 13 matches. A set of fixtures that saw them exit the Carabao Cup and end any hopes they had of winning another Premier League trophy.

Their form since has improved but has showed huge vulnerabilities in the biggest of matches – a 4-2 defeat in the Champions League to PSG, 5-1 and 2-1 defeats to Liverpool in the Premier League as well as losses in both legs of their Champions League playoff stage match with Real Madrid. Better than the back end of 2024? Yes. Back to their best? Nowhere near! 

It’s difficult to second-guess Pep Guardiola’s team selection at the best of times, but what we can say is there is no need for mass rotation and resting of players when Manchester City are in a position to target winning the competition. 

Miram Muslic has now managed Plymouth Argyle in 10 matches and has a symmetrical-looking record of 3 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats. Although Argyle remain in the Championship relegation zone, Muslic has given his team a fighting chance with a new robust, compact look that, at the very least, has them competitive as shown in recent 1-1 draws with fellow strugglers Luton and Cardiff. 

Muslic’s football is ultra direct and comes a 5 man defensive base, two workmanlike midfielders, a target-man type forward with 2 players playing off him looking to seize upon second balls. 

🏁 Man City v Plymouth Ref Watch

• Referee - Craig Pawson

📺 How to Watch Man City v Plymouth in the FA Cup

📅 When is Man City v Plymouth? / Saturday, 1st March 2025, 17:45
🏟 Where is Man City v Plymouth? / Etihad Stadium (Manchester)
📺 What TV Channel is Man City v Plymouth on? / ITV4
🟨 …And who is the referee for Man City v Plymouth? / Craig Pawson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

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* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.

* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.