A day in the life of Pep Guardiola must be a frustrating experience. From glorious genius on his arrival, many have joyfully knocked him down since he arrived at Manchester City. Having recovered of late, though, the Catalan has enjoyed batting the media away with the disdain of a man thoroughly sick of the press conference questions already. Perhaps seeming a little on edge, maybe even having been shocked by how tricky his side have found the first few months of this season, Guardiola is about to begin his first foray into the FA Cup.

It comes at a time when the blue half of Manchester have suffered the pain of seeing Tottenham sneak above them in the table and lie seven points off the league leaders. A resurgent Manchester United have even closed the gap on them to three points, City's stellar September form is now nothing more than a distant memory.

Some respite from the Premier League, despite winning four of their last five, is probably a welcome relief. As the fixture list briefly calms into something that allows players to occasionally train with their managers, Manchester City face West Ham in the FA Cup at London Stadium on Friday night. The Hammers are yet to produce a standard of football anywhere near the one they reached last season, but have edged towards results good enough to keep them away from the relegation battle for now at the very least.

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Both teams, then, will realistically be looking at the FA Cup as an aside from the Premier League. We can expect the match to be fought tightly and West Ham can focus on the cup without the threat of relegation looming over the fixture. Manchester City, meanwhile, are well aware that the Champions League is still over a month away from its return and guaranteeing a top four Premier League finish must be their primary aim for this season.

Whatever the previous squad building failings at Manchester City, and however long Guardiola may need to truly impose his style onto the team, even he will be under pressure if they finish the season far from the title and without silverware. The FA Cup, in a time when there are so many high profile Premier League managers, is a sure fire way to at least retain some credibility going into the summer.

For that reason alone, a cup run can be a welcome distraction from their Premier League underachievement. Assuming they are not too unfortunate with the draw, City should have the squad to cope with the extra matches even once the Champions League returns.

Maybe the FA Cup can even be an opportunity for City to experiment further, perhaps even to find the balance of their young players and give valuable game time to Kelechi Iheanacho and Leroy Sane. Many managers may see the competition as a run of injury-risking fixtures, but the FA Cup is a chance for Manchester City to rejuvenate their campaign.

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