Had this game taken place a couple of weeks ago then I think most United fans would have gone into it with the confidence that we could get some sort of revenge for the 6-1 drubbing but after two defeats and, worst still, two pretty abject displays in our last two games then it really is difficult to think of one good reason to believe that we can win this one.

On the other hand, there are plenty of reasons to believe that City will win.

For a start, they are arguably the best team in England at this moment. The league table backs this up. The way they beat us at OT earlier in the season adds further weight to the argument.

City have turned the Etihad Stadium into the kind of fortress that teams such as ourselves at OT and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge have done in recent years. In fact, in their last twenty home league games, they have dropped just two points (Fulham, last February).

City are the defending FA Cup Champions whilst our own record in this competition in recent years has been pretty underwhelming.

Despite Mancini’s frankly laughable comments that he didn’t know if he had eighteen players available for this one (with the Toure’s going to the African Cup of Nations) he has a formidable starting eleven of fully fit players (although Barry is suspended and Yaya Toure is out so that does mess their normal midfield up rather a lot) whilst we have an injury list which, whilst improving of late, is still ridiculously long and includes at least two players who would no doubt have started in this one (Vidic and Fletcher).

So that’s the case for Manchester City in this one and I think it’s fair to say that an awful lot of boxes are ticked there. The head can only come to the conclusion that City will win this one even if the heart begs to differ.

However, I have been supporting United long enough to know that we can never be written off. Some of our best ever results have come out of the blue (no pun intended). Indeed, there may even be the possibility of some degree of complacency on the City part that we can take advantage of but perhaps that would be grasping at straws.

There is also a possibility that we may view the FA Cup differently this season. In recent seasons, I have had the feeling that Fergie hasn’t treated the competition very seriously – of course he would like to win it and sends out a team he believes is capable of winning the match but it seems to be a case of either win the game or lose the game… but don’t draw the game because a draw means a replay and another fixture to contend with as we attempt to compete for the bigger prizes such as the Premier League and the Champions League.

This season, we don’t have the Champions League to worry about. Yes, we have the Europa League and I don’t know what Sir Alex’s private thoughts are on that tournament but, speaking as a fan, I think I would rather see us lift the FA Cup than the Europa League trophy. It could well be the case that a draw in this fixture so that we can get City back to an OT replay would not be seen as such a bad thing.

What I would like to see in this game more than anything is all the players being played in their “proper” positions. Due to injuries, Fergie has tried with mixed success to put square pegs into round holes in several games recently but I would like to see something along the lines of the following (if Smalling is fit):-

Lindegaard, Rafael, Smalling, Rio, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Jones, Nani, Rooney, Hernandez in the kind of 4-5-1/4-4-2 type formation which has served us well.

Jones in midfield might be slightly iffy but I’m convinced that he is better/safer there than in central defence at the moment – he had a nightmare in there against Newcastle the other night and had some kind of hand in all three of their goals.

If Smalling doesn’t make it back then it could well be that Fergie goes with Anderson in midfield and brings Jones back into the centre of defence and, if that is the case, then I think we could have trouble and if Fergie goes with De Gea ahead of Lindegaard then City will simply bombard us with crosses all afternoon long. Neither De Gea nor Jones seem particularly good at dealing with crosses (and this is where we miss Vidic massively).

Anyway. What’s going to happen here today? I think the answer has to be: “anything could happen”. I doubt very much that we’ll be seeing another 6-1 scoreline or anything even close and some of the bookies actually seem to think that we’ll have a fairly low-scoring game. I suppose it’s possible that it will be cagey but I’ve got a feeling that there’ll be more fireworks here today.

May the… erm… “best” team win!

The bet is going to be a tentative 2 points on OVER 2.5 goals @ 1.92 with Bet365.