Cup clashes are set to be screened on BBC TV
BOTH United and City’s FA Cup fourth round games will be broadcast on the BBC.
After beating Derby County 2-0 in the third round thanks to goals from Jesse Lingard and Romelu Lukaku Jose Mourinho’s side were drawn against Yeovil.
The clash against the League Two side will be shown live on BBC One on Friday, January 26, with the game kicking off at 7.55pm.
The game against Derby ended a 13-year run of 58 televised FA Cup games for United and after a one match break they have been selected by the broadcasters again.
Similarly City’s third round tie against Burnley was not selected for broadcast.
Pep Guardiola’s side beat their Premier League rivals 4-1 thanks to two goals from Sergio Aguero, pictured, and one a piece for Leroy Sane and Bernardo Silva.
City have been drawn against either Mansfield or Cardiff whose third round tie ended in a 0-0 stalemate.
Guardiola will discover his side’s opponents after their replay which will be played on Tuesday.
City will face the winner of that tie on Sunday, January 28, at 4pm, with the game being shown live on BBC One.
The Blues haven’t won the cup since 2010/11 season but Guardiola’s side are currently favourites to lift the famous trophy at 13/4.
While United last won the cup in 2015/16 under Louis van Gaal and are second favourites to take the trophy back to Old Trafford at 5/1. IN the corridors of the Etihad it was referred to as ‘Project Beatle.’
For all of Ferran Soriano’s designs on turning City into world football’s superpower – a more immediate target lies closer to home.
As fierce as the rivalry with United is, Liverpool are seen as an established force City can eclipse in the shorter term.
On the pitch they’d argue they’ve already done that with two Premier League titles – and a third on the way – since their Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008. Liverpool were last champions when the top flight was still known as Division One.
But it is the Anfield club’s history, trophy count and fan reach around the globe that keeps them among English football’s royalty.
That hit home at City when the two clubs were last locked in a title race in 2014.
There was a feeling among some within the club that Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool were the media darlings ahead of Manuel Pellegrini’s side, who eventually lifted the title.
Victory that season was a triumph on more than one front in that sense. But the rivalry hasn’t subsided in the meantime. The signing of Raheem Sterling was a demonstration of City’s financial power.
But more telling was the player’s insistence he wanted to move to the Etihad for personal ambition.
Liverpool may have become accustomed to seeing stars head for Europe’s giants - Javier Mascherano and Luis Suarez to Barcelona, Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid. But the pull of Anfield had been powerful enough to convince Steven Gerrard to reject the overtures of Chelsea a decade before Sterling’s departure.
Not so on this occasion - and, notably, the England winger wasn’t the first Liverpool star coveted by City. Before him it was Suarez Daniel Agger too.
Even manager Rodgers came under consideration when City weighed up potential successors for Roberto Mancini.
It is evidence of City’s growing belief they are now in a position to pick off Liverpool’s best talent.
Which is why the pursuit of Virgil van Dijk in the summer and again last month, made for such fascinating viewing.
Pep Guardiola identified the Dutchman as the long-term successor to Vincent Kompany.
Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, believed he was the answer to Liverpool’s defensive issues. The player opted for Anfield in the summer City insisting they’d refused to meet Southampton’s valuation.
Privately they considered Liverpool’s proposed £60m bid as hugely over the odds for a player with limited Champions League experience and without the ‘premium’ attached to homegrown talent.
Still, that didn’t stop them going back in for him again in December - despite the traditional inflation of the January window.
Again Van Dijk opted for Klopp’s Anfield project.
Again City believed his now £75m valuation was over the odds.
On Merseyside, meanwhile, it will be considered a victory - the latest part of Klopp’s revolution.
Should Liverpool inflict a first Premier League defeat on the runaway leaders it will only strengthen the belief within Anfield that they represent the greatest challenge to City’s dominance.
It remains the only Premier League ground City have failed to win at under Sheikh Mansour’s rule.
Three points on Sunday would be further evidence of Guardiola’s superiority over the rest of the pack this season - but ‘Project Beatle’ goes much further than any one given match.