Man City vs Bristol City Final Football Score 28 Feb 2023

Manchester City are aiming to win their first FA Cup since 2019, but have only made the final one other time since lifting the trophy in 2011. Guardiola said the mood in his team is “exceptional” after their 4-1 win over Bournemouth in the league, although he admitted he has not had much time to watch Bristol City play due to the number of fixtures his side have. “I have not had much time to watch Bristol but I will do everything to get as much information to the players,” he said. “They have no defeats in their past 12 games. “Their manager has a lot of experience and I know him from when he managed Leicester and Watford. “It’s always tough when you go away from home against a Championship team. At home, it would be different but we are going to fly there tomorrow, try to do a good game and to go through. “It’s an important competition and it is a serious team that will play there.” An insight into my world,” Nigel Pearson says, stowing away his phone after digging out a video of him, Scott Murray, Bristol City’s universally loved kit man, and the player liaison officer, Matt Parsons, out in the sticks. The scene? Almost three acres of ancient woodland in the Somerset countryside which Pearson bought last year. For Pearson it is a welcome and picturesque sanctuary, full of biodiversity but clear of the turbulence and heat that come with life as a manager. “They went down to help me take a tree out,” he explains.

“Timber!” comes the call as the chainsaw bites. “My sister-in-law died two years ago of cancer so I have put a bench there,” Pearson says. “It would have been her birthday in October and her daughters have visited. I’ve built a footpath to the top – it is quite steep. The views are fantastic.” Pearson spends odd afternoons camping on site. What does he get up to? “It doesn’t work like that,” he says, smiling. “It’s just about being there. I’ll manage it over a period of time.” Last year’s Christmas presents inevitably carried a theme. “I had a leather smock, some chisels, a wood splitter.” An hour earlier Pearson, who last week celebrated two years and 100 games in charge of Bristol City, was admiring the view overlooking Brunel’s iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge, the skeleton of Ashton Gate visible in the background. In the distance rays of sunlight beat down on the horizon, perhaps a good omen before his team, unbeaten in 12 matches, host Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth round on Tuesday? “I think that’s just rain,” Pearson says, laughing. “I saw their game against [Nottingham] Forest. They drew 1-1, but then you see the clips of it and you go: ‘Wow, that [result] could have been anything.

Bristol City need to be at their best against Premier League title chasers Manchester City in their FA Cup tie, says manager Nigel Pearson. The Robins host the six-time FA Cup winners in the fifth round in Tuesday’s sold-out game at Ashton Gate. The two sides previously met in the Carabao Cup semi-finals in 2018, with Pep Guardiola’s side winning 5-3 over two legs. Bristol City last progressed to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1974. “We need to be as good as we can be on any given day,” Pearson told BBC Radio Bristol. “If you’re as good as you can be and your opponents turn out to be better than you, there’s not a great deal you can do about that. “What we’ve got to try and make sure that we guarantee from ourselves is that our own performance is right, that’s all I ever ask from my players, that the individuals do the jobs they are there to do but the most important thing is that collectively to be as good as we can be as a team. “We need to be at our best, simple.”

Bristol City come into the fixture on the back of a 12-game unbeaten run in all competitions which includes wins against Championship rivals Swansea and West Brom in the earlier FA Cup rounds. Yet Pearson admitted that if Manchester City – who have only lost six matches in all competitions this season – are in a “rampant mood” it would be a “difficult night” for his team. “We’re playing a fifth-round tie against one of the best sides in the world, if not the best side in the world, it’s something that we should look forward to and celebrate the fact that that’s going to happen at our stadium,” Pearson added. “What I also want us to do is make sure they’re welcome here but we don’t need to give them any more respect than we already give them. “What we’ve got to try and do is make the game difficult for them and to do that we need to work exceptionally hard.” Pearson has given debuts to academy players Omar Taylor-Clarke and Marlee Francois during the FA Cup run so far, while Sam Bell, 20, and Alex Scott, 19, have also been key parts of their attack.

With some players unavailable to injury and others cup tied, a number of academy players are likely be on the bench again. “The cup games have been an integral part of the run that we’ve been on to try and steady our season, or at least quieten down a bit of noise where there’s been elements of doubt about whether we’re making progress or not – and I understand that,” Pearson continued. “The fact that some of these young players have played a big part in that has been quite telling. “I think for all the players, but particularly the younger players, they’ll enjoy the experience if they just go out and be themselves.”