For a ninth time in ten seasons under Pep Guardiola, Manchester City reached the Emirates FA Cup semi-finals in 2025-26 and have now secured a record fourth successive appearance in the Final.
With the only exception coming when they lost to Wigan Athletic in the 2017-18 fifth round, Saturday's win over Southampton was their eighth consecutive semi-final – an FA Cup record.
Before this, the longest run of semi-finals was five, by Manchester United between 1962 and 1966 and Arsenal from 2001 to 2005.
With their 10-1 win over Exeter in the third round, City became the first top-flight team since Tottenham Hotspur beat Crewe 13-2 in a fourth round replay in February 1960 to notch double figures in an FA Cup game.
While firing in goals and hammering opponents isn’t just reserved for lower division teams – they beat Liverpool 4-0 in the quarter-final – their recent record against sides from outside the elite served as a serious warning for Southampton ahead of their clash at Wembley on Saturday evening.
Since the start of 2018-19, City have played 22 FA Cup games against lower league teams and beaten them all by an aggregate score of 86-11, a run which has included five different wins by five or more goals, including one in each of the last four seasons: 6-0 vs Burnley in 2022-23, 5-0 vs Huddersfield in 2023-24, 8-0 vs Salford in 2024-25 and that 10-1 win over Exeter this season.
And they’ve now extended that run to set new history in 2025-26.
