Crystal Palace to Win First Major Trophy?
Crystal Palace and Man City clash in the English cup final this Saturday, with the former looking for their first ever major trophy. Let’s take a closer look at what we can expect this weekend!
The 144th final of this prestigious tournament will be played this weekend between Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and a Crystal Palace side led by Austrian Head Coach Oliver Glasner. City will be looking to win this trophy for the eighth time in their history, whereas the Eagles will be looking to secure the first major trophy in the South London Club’s 119 year history in what is their first final in this competition since 2016, where they initially took the lead, only to be eventually beaten 2-1 by Manchester United.
This game is set to be enthralling, and here we are going to be taking a look ahead at the action to come in the English Capital this weekend. The final is one of the standout events of any football season in English and indeed world football, with this domestic cup competition being the oldest of them all. The 2025 final will be held on Saturday 17th May, with it set to get underway at 5:30 in the afternoon (CET).
The game itself will of course be taking place under the arch at the historic Wembley Stadium, which has been the host venue of the final of the tournament every year since 1923, except the period between 2001 and 2006, when it was hosted at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff whilst renovations were taking place at Wembley. The first ever FA Cup final to be held at Wembley was in the 1922/23 season, which saw Bolton Wanderers defeat West Ham United 2-0 thanks to goals from David Jack and Jack Smith.
Last season’s final took place back in May 2024, with this highly prestigious match taking place between two fierce local rivals, with Manchester United, then led by Erik Ten Hag, taking on a Manchester City side led by Pep Guardiola at Wembley. The game was played in front of an 84,814 strong crowd.
The enthralling game saw United edge their city rivals 2-1 with goals from Alejandro Garnacho and academy graduate Kobbie Mainoo, with both of the goals for the Red Devils coming in the latter stages of the first half. A goal from City’s Belgian international forward Jeremy Doku did halve the deficit late on in the game in the final moments of the second half, but they were unable to find the equalising goal.
In the 2025 final, City will be looking to put the disappointment of last year’s final behind them and go on to win what would be their 8th tournament success in their illustrious history. However, Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace will be looking to stop their Manchester counterparts as they look for a maiden major trophy.
This will be Crystal Palace’s third final in the tournament and they were beaten by Mancunian opposition on both previous occasions. The last time they made it they took the lead against Manchester United but were unable to hold on eventually. We should expect goals in this match as five of the last six meetings between these two teams have seen both teams score and a minimum of four goals scored. Therefore, it has all the makings of a great final but Palace will be concerned with actually winning, rather than being entertaining. A win here and everyone associated will find themselves in the history books but Palace will need to change a seven match winless run against City. The star man for the Londoners is Eberechi Eze, who has had another excellent season and has scored five goals in his last four matches. He also opened the scoring in the last match between these two. Mark Guehi, Adam Wharton and keeper Dean Henderson are likely to be other key players.
Manchester City will know that a win here will mask what has been a disappointing season for them. This is their third successive appearance in a final and they will be looking to make up for the disappointment of losing to rivals Manchester United last season. This could be their eighth tournament win, which would move them into third place overall in terms of wins. City have been on a good run of late and are now likely to finish in the CL spots in the league, with the potential of finishing as high as second. They will want to put the disappointing goalless draw against last placed Southampton last weekend behind them though. Kevin De Bruyne will want to end his Manchester City career with a trophy and a medal, with this being potentially his fifteenth major honour whilst at City. He enjoys playing against Crystal Palace too, with six goals and ten assists, so it would not be a surprise if he were heavily involved.
Please note that the odds might have changed since the writing and/or publication of this article.
Last updated: 14.05.25
