City Must Not Lose Focus Now After FA Cup Setback.

The Premier League leaders were dumped out of the FA Cup to quash their ambitious expectations of a quadruple.

When City were drawn against Wigan Athletic nobody gave the Championship side a chance. Despite knocking out the Citizens in 2014 and pulling a major surprise by winning the competition the previous year — against the same opponent — one would be forgiven for not remembering such statistics and not giving the Lactics any sort of chance. After all, this City side has brushed aside teams with the relative ease of an angry bull, scoring almost 3 goals per game. They had lost just twice all season — a deadrubber Champions League game and a thrilling encounter with Liverpool.

Instead, Wigan produced one of the upsets of the season, riding on luck and resilience to secure a famous win. Despite their numerical advantage, it was still all City. The Premier League team had 83% possession and 29 shots on but were unable to find a goal. In the end, the home side seized on an uncharacteristic error from Kyle Walker and scored the only goal of the game.

Earlier this season, Pep Guardiola had to dispel lofty notions of his side winning all four trophies his side are participating in."That is not gong to happen," Guardiola told a news conference. “Of course not, that is unreal -- what we are living is unreal. That is not going to happen.”

While he was quick to dismiss such suggestions, it would have played on his mind that his team coud do the impossible. They are currently 16 points clear of second-placed Man Utd, they face Arsenal in the final of the Carabao Cup, and are all but through to the quarter finals of the Champions League.

With the Carabao Cup final coming up on Sunday, all eyes will be on Guardiola’s men and how they respond to this upset. Arsenal may not present the sternest of tests, but on their day, the Gunners can wreck havoc, depending on which Arsenal side shows up. Win, and City retain their unplayable status. Lose, and cracks will begin to emerge in the their wall of stability.

A couple of days ago, a chance of a quadruple had grown from a suggestion to a possibility, irrespective of Guardiola’s claims. It was always going to be a long shot but nobody expected it to end so soon, and especially not at the DW stadium.