Wembley. It’s been a while. Actually, it hasn’t, just the two years since we were last here in the play-off final. Last time here in the FA Cup was 2021 when we played a semi-final in front of 4000 people. The fans weren’t the only ones who didn’t turn up that day as we lost one now to a League 1 side. Leicester weren’t a lead one side at the time of course but that joke seems somewhat topical and maybe they can use at on the intro of their next DVD. Prior to that, there was a semi-final in the FA Cup against Chelsea in 2019, which again was a bit of a miserable experience when we allowed Olivier Giroud to dance past four of our defenders on the edge of the box and score the decisive goal. Latter day Saint Willy Caballero got lucky when he dropped the ball into his own net but overall, we were well beaten.

One fact that I didn’t realise is that the other than a the traditional big five and Spurs, we are the team that’s played here the most often in recent times, which seems somewhat bizarre, given that there are much bigger clubs than us who are below us in that particular table. Our level of familiarity with the surroundings is nothing compared to our opponents today however, so it certainly is not going to feel like a home game, especially against Manchester City who will be playing their 23rd game at Wembley under Pep Guardiola, who took over in 2017.

We will however, certainly outnumber them in terms of fans and they will certainly outnumber us in terms of charges, they have 115 which have been hanging over them for years and we have one from last Saturday. Unlike theirs however, ours got sorted straight away and it means that Flynn Downes will be suspended for this game and the remaining two regular season games in the Championship. It’s all a bit fucking annoying and smacks of double standards as we all thought he got away with the slightly wild challenge at Swansea. It wasn’t the worst challenge I’ve ever seen, but the EFL have decided in their wisdom to throw the book at him, whilst they and the FA in the Premier League let things go seemingly every single week. I do feel it’s the kind of challenge that we may be could’ve appealed but by accepting the charge, Flynn misses this game and the next two league games and will be available for the playoffs. A delay in the ban starting or an increase would mean him missing what are probably going to be the most important games of the season.

Downes absence is likely to meet Cameron Bragg starting the game so what an opportunity for him. Welington will come into the side for the suspended Ryan Manning and the only real questions are who starts on the right wing, I expect it will be Tom Fellows, and who starts upfront, where I expect Ross Stewart to get the nod. Whoever is a substitute will undoubtedly get on at some point.

Much will be made of the fact that we will have many more fans in the ground and Manchester City, but is it really a surprise that it’s not very well subscribed for Manchester City fans. It is after all, only a semi-final which for them is nothing and it’s another long trip down to Wembley, where they visit all the time. Also of course, it costs a fortune in travel, food, beer, and ticket prices. It’s a tired old argument but of course the semi-finals should not be played at Wembley. The FA come out with some bullshit about maximising use of the national stadium for football, but this doesn’t apply to the Community Shield which has been pied off to Cardiff, because Wembley has been booked for a concert by The Weeknd. I wonder what would happen if Taylor Swift or Oasis wanted to book Wembley on FA Cup Final Day? I wonder if Liam and Noel will honour us with their presence today? The FA are a disgrace but I quite fancy a trip to Cardiff anyway.

Before we get to Cardiff, however, we have to win this game, then the final. Standing in our way are this ridiculous Manchester City team who have just hit the top of the league after the Arse has fallen out of Arsenal. They have never recovered from getting beaten by Saints in the quarter-final and I hope for Arsenal fans must be that City won’t recover after we’ve beaten them and The Gunners will find form again and romp to the League title. Unlikely on many counts.

Yes, we beat Arsenal when they were top of the league and now we’re playing the current league leaders. This is a different bag altogether however as City are a completely different level to any other team in the country. Pep has been tinkering with his side this season up until Christmas but he has now found the most settled eleven I can never remember him having in his time as Manchester City manager. He will probably rest the goalkeeper and play James Trafford but other than that I confidently predict that their team will be the one they put out against Arsenal in the league last weekend. They are aided by the fact that they don’t have a fixture for nine days after the semi-final, whereas we have the ‘shit or bust’ game at home to Ipswich on Tuesday. What that means is basically there is no need for City to rotate anyone and even if they do rotate, who do they bring in? Foden, Reinders, Marmoush, Kovačić, Ruben Dias, Stones, Gvardiol… It’s fucking ridiculous.

Usually when I’m writing a preview of a League game, I’m looking at the opposition and trying to work out who the danger man is and pondering how THB, Nathan Wood or Jack Stephens is going to deal with them. Sometimes it’s not a name, I’m particularly familiar with. Last week for example, I had never really heard of Zan Vipotnik until earlier on this season. Today, Erling Haaland. Fucks sake. Apart from the fact he’s a fucking brilliant striker, I love Erling Haaland for his attitude. He isn’t going to dive and he isn’t going to go down if one of the defenders sticks his face in his, as he didn’t do against Arsenal at the weekend. Good job there’s no retrospective punishments in the Premier League it seems.

City have also got this maverick talent Rayan Cherki, who Pep has integrated into the team this season as he leads all the other managers in a merry dance, because he stopped any maverick tendencies in players like Jack Grealish a couple of years ago, but now he’s fully embraced it and all the other managers are playing catch up. The other managers are always playing catch-up, as can be illustrated by looking at full backs and how Pep has used them. Pep started playing inverted fullbacks with players like Cancelo, then a year later everyone copied that, by which time Pep already moved on to playing four big central defenders as his back four, with the likes of Gvardiol, Ake and Akanji being used as full backs. Teams copied that, especially Arsenal, who are still doing it and in the meantime, Pep has moved on to using Mateus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly at full backs and they are basically midfield players. The man is always one step ahead.

So that’s the challenge for Tonda Eckert over 90 minutes at Wembley. I am absolutely sure he will be loving the challenge and hoping that the players can carry out the game plan he will come up with. We were lacking our usual energy against Bristol City a few days ago and that simply cannot be the case and it certainly shouldn’t be the case with over 35,000 Saints fans making one end of Wembley a wall of yellow.

Can we win? Yes, will we win? Probably not, but we can definitely have a fucking go. Earlier this week I watched City play against Burnley and they only won 1-0 against a side that will be in the Championship next season. Burnley basically defended deep and tried to hit City on the break. They struggled like mad to get hold of the ball but they had their moments and stayed in the game that’s got to be the plan for us. Stay in the game for as long as possible. It’s going to be a hell of a task but let’s give it a go. Shea Charles off the bench against his former club maybe.

There are no recriminations for losing this game so therefore, what have you got to lose? The 50th anniversary of our 1976 FA Cup win has already been done massive justice to. The fact that we have reached Wembley again is ridiculous bearing in mind we are in the Championship and the wave of nostalgia from wearing yellow and blue makes this an even more special occasion. The fanbase is going to bring it to Wembley on Saturday. Saints fans always do the big games very well and this will be no exception. All I ask is for the team to give it a decent go.

Up fucking yellow and blue 50th anniversary Saints.