Mind The Gap: Can Man Utd rain on City's parade in the FA Cup final? 🚌 | OneFootball

Typical eh? You wait 151 years for the first ever Manchester derby FA Cup final, and then two come along at once.

Not unlike London buses, the red and blue halves of Manchester will pull into the nation’s capital on Saturday for a second cup final encounter in as many years, although the feeling when they embark at Wembley will be a little different on both sides of the divide this time around.

Manchester City are once again the glowing, newly crowned Premier League champions, with last weekend’s 3-1 victory over West Ham securing the title for a fourth consecutive year.

Four-in-a-row is an unprecedented achievement which even Manchester United legend and 13-time Premier League champion Sir Alex Ferguson did not match during his illustrious career, and arguably puts Pep Guardiola’s City on a pedestal as English football’s greatest ever side.

There is, however, a rather sizeable elephant in the Etihad Stadium trophy room, with the Premier League’s 115 charges of alleged financial misconduct still hanging over City, making them a problematic, difficult-to-celebrate champion in the eyes of many outside the club.

It has been over 15 months since those charges dropped and it could be several more before the case is even heard by an independent panel. Until it is finally resolved, City’s place in the annals of history feels like the subject of an agonising, era-defining VAR review.

This time last year, City were looking to become only the second English team ever – after Manchester United’s fabled class of 1999 – to complete the league title, FA Cup and European Cup treble.

It meant United went into last year’s final not only looking to add a second domestic cup to Erik ten Hag’s solid if unspectacular debut season at Old Trafford, but also attempting to preserve a singular achievement which had belonged to them and them alone.

The Treble defence began in the worst way imaginable for those of a red persuasion, when İlkay Gündoğan volleyed the Blues in front with the fastest goal in FA Cup final history after just 12 seconds.

Bruno Fernandes did draw United level from the penalty spot later in the first half, only for Gündoğan to strike again early in the second for what proved to be the cup winning goal, with City’s captain going on to lift the Champions League in Istanbul to complete The Treble seven days later.

United at least won’t have to worry about Gündoğan’s goals this year, with the German having since moved to Barcelona, but how they probably wish Ten Hag’s second season at the helm could also be filed under “solid if unspectacular”.

Last year the Dutchman completed his maiden English voyage having added another Carabao Cup to United’s trophy collection, and finished a respectable third in the league.

The numbers for his second season do not make for pleasant reading, however. Ten Hag’s side finished eighth in the table with 15 points fewer than last season, and a goal difference of -1.

It was the club’s lowest ever Premier League finish, with their 14 league defeats (nine of which came at home) being an unwanted club record, as was the 58 goals they shipped in the league (with three or more goals conceded in eight different league matches, and 14 in all competitions).

And perhaps the most damning stat of them all is the 360 shots they allowed on their goal this season, which was more than any other team in the Premier League, including bottom club Sheffield United.

They didn’t fare much better in the other competitions either, with a fourth round departure from the Carabao Cup followed by a humbling exit from the Champions League at the group stage, with 15 goals conceded in six games against the likes of Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen.

Even the FA Cup has provided its share of tribulations this season, with United scraping past League Two Newport County in the third round, and needing a questionable offside decision and a penalty shoot-out to avoid fully squandering a 3-0 lead to Championship Coventry City in the semi-final.

They will no doubt hope for a performance more akin to their exhilarating 4-3 quarter-final victory over Liverpool when they travel to Wembley this weekend, but this season’s two Manchester derbies – which City won by an aggregate score of 6-1 – would suggest the cup holders have more reasons to be confident than afraid.

If Ten Hag can mastermind an unlikely victory, it will salvage not just some pride from United’s season, but perhaps represents his last slim chance of saving his own skin.

Since Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe became United’s majority shareholder earlier this year, the petrochemicals billionaire has set about trying to tidy up everything from the IT department to the long-neglected boardroom level, poaching Omar Berrada from City to be the club’s new CEO, and also hiring former City academy director Jason Wilcox as the club’s new technical director.

Sir Jim could do with trying to fix Old Trafford’s leaky roof next, while the appointment of Dan Ashworth as United’s director of football will likely be his next significant piece of recruitment, not to mention the cacophony of rumours suggesting a decision has already been made on the future of the club’s first-team manager.

It feels like even victory in the cup final wouldn’t be enough to change minds in the corridors of power when it comes Ten Hag, and it would be a sizeable surprise if the former Ajax boss is still in the dugout by the time next season kicks off.

Whether Gareth Southgate, Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Roberto De Zerbi, Kieran McKenna or someone else will be sitting in Ten Hag’s seat remains to be seen, but it is likely to be a big summer of change at Old Trafford, regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s final.

City, meanwhile, will be hoping to convince their manager to sign an extension in what will be the final season of his current contract next term, and will parade at least one trophy through the streets of Manchester on Sunday evening, whether they win or lose at Wembley, and whatever the weather.

United’s task on Saturday will be to try to end a dismal season on high and see if they can drizzle some Manchester rain on City’s parade, not that it particularly dampened anyone’s spirits last year.

City will be out to add a league and cup Double to last year’s Treble, which would move English football’s fourth-most successful club level with Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham on eight FA Cups won, but still some way behind United’s 12 and Arsenal’s 14.

“Not in my lifetime,” was Sir Alex Ferguson’s pithy response when he was once asked whether City would ever go into a clash with United as the favourites.

The 82-year-old Scot is thankfully still alive and well, but City are unquestionably the favourites this weekend, and you’d have to go back a few years for the last time they weren’t in this fixture.

Then again, the form book tends to go out of the window both in cup finals and derbies, so if United can keep it tight for the first 15 seconds this year, you never know what might happen.