Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany believes that Pep Guardiola's side would send out a "really powerful statement" if they went on to win the FA Cup and secure a top-four finish in the Premier League this season.
After winning an unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title last season, Man City have suffered an alarming decline this term, largely due to a combination of injuries and a notable drop-off in form from several first-team players.
Having been knocked out of both the EFL Cup and Champions League, as well as fall a whopping 20 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, Man City are now prioritising a top-four finish and success in the FA Cup, their only remaining hope of lifting silverware.
Seven-time FA Cup winners Man City - who beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in the PL on Wednesday - have reached at least the semi-final stage of the competition in seven of the last eight seasons under Guardiola prior to the current campaign, but they have only triumphed on two occasions in 2018-19 and 2022-23.
The Citizens, who lost last season's FA Cup final to rivals Manchester United, are the bookmakers' favourites to go all the way and win this year's competition, now that Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs have all been eliminated, and they are now preparing for a favourable-looking fifth-round encounter at home to Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle on Saturday.
Will Man City achieve more than Arsenal this season if they win FA Cup?
Considering how turbulent Man City's campaign has been, McInerney would take a top-four finish and FA Cup glory "in a heartbeat" and believes that it could represent a better season than teams including Arsenal, who could end this term trophyless as they now seem highly unlikely to win the Premier League title and may find it difficult to go all the way in the Champions League.
Speaking to Sports Mole, McInerney said: "If someone said this is going to be a transition season where you realise several legends, unfortunately, need to move on, we get a serious injury to a Ballon d'Or winner (Rodri), we lose centre-backs for months at a time, while also signing a whole bunch of young players, because we're starting the transition... If someone said to me, you get third or fourth and you win the FA Cup, that's not that bad. It's not a bad season. Most teams would kill for that.
"If we won the FA Cup and get Champions League football, as well as potentially fall in love with some new signings, some young players out of nowhere that we'd never even heard of like [Abdukodir] Khusanov, then it's really not bad.
"I still think it could be more than some teams like Arsenal achieve this season, and given the expectations on the two clubs, that would be, once again, telling of where City are at. A trophy this season, of all seasons, it'd be ridiculous.
"It'd be mad to complain, because this is objectively City's worst season since Guardiola joined, by every single metric. If we somehow managed to get Champions League football and still win a trophy, we're so spoiled at that point as City fans. I would take that in a heartbeat.
FA Cup glory would benefit Man City's younger players
"Obviously you want better at the start of the season, but once you change expectations, you'd be stupid to turn this down, because that is better than what most teams in world football would ever get to experience for a long time."
McInerney added: "The taste of silverware as well for the young lads and the new signings, and the reinvigoration it'd give to the club, knowing that actually we're in good hands here, these young players do have the talent to win trophies, I think it would look great for City going into the summer transfer window - not that we need further vindication, but it's very obviously a team in flux.
"If City can get top four, built off the back of some of these new young lads, and win a trophy, City would be able to turn round and say to agents and players, 'look we aren't going anywhere, these new lads are really good still. You're the cherry on top of the cake already.'
"I think it'd be a really powerful statement actually for City to win the FA Cup as well as finish Champions League football this year, of all years."
McInerney has also shared his thoughts on who could play for Man City against Plymouth, including a possible debut for 19-year-old attacking midfielder Claudio Echeverri, who has officially arrived in Manchester and has been added to Guardiola's first-team squad following his move from River Plate.
Press play on the video at the top of this article to hear the full discussion ahead of Man City's FA Cup clash with Plymouth. body check tags ::
