True extent of Man City’s ‘easy’ FA Cup draw history revealed

Fans have spotted a surprising pattern

The Citizens guaranteed their place in the draw with an emphatic 10-1 victory over Exeter City on Saturday, while rivals Man United were eliminated by Premier League side Brighton.

As a result of Man City's latest so called "easy opponent," fans have been quick to notice a pattern, taking to X to vent their frustration.

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One wrote: "It feels like they’ve played every lower league team in the last decade in the cup."

And another added: "Brighton drawing another big six team away in the fa cup. Meanwhile Man City gets a lower league team again."

Incredibly, in terms of the numbers, those fans aren't actually too far off the mark. As revealed by Opta, Man City have now now won their last 20 FA Cup matches against teams from outside the top English division.

Have Man City always been drawn against easy opponents?

In order to get to the bottom of Man City's supposed lucky run in the tournament, we've taken a look back at all the FA Cup matches the Premier League champions have faced since the arrival of Pep Guardiola in 2016, and the numbers do not lie.

In FA Cup 3rd and 4th round draws since 2017/18, the year after Pep's arrival, in both the third and fourth round of the tournament, a whopping 72% of Man City's games have been against lower league opposition, and 72% of those matches were held at the Etihad, giving the top 6 giants an extra home advantage, if they needed it!

Man City's third and fourth round fixtures since 2017:

17/18
Burnley H
Cardiff A 

18/19
Rotherham H 

Burnley H

19/20
Port Vale H 

Fulham H 

20/21
Birmingham H 

Cheltenham A 

21/22
Swindon A 

Fulham H 

22/23
Chelsea H
Arsenal H

23/24
Huddersfield H 

Spurs A

24/25
Salford H 

Orient A 

25/26
Exeter H 

Salford/Swindon H