The English FA Cup final between Manchester City and Manchester United brings the curtain comes down at long last on a mammoth domestic football season.
It’s a case of neighbours at war, too, as the cross-city rivals trek down from the north west to Wembley Stadium for the annual showpiece.
Pep Guardiola’s side are aiming to seal their second trophy of a possible three in the capital city, having stormed to yet another Premier League title after overtaking longstanding pacesetters Arsenal at the top of the table.
Coupled with the Uefa Champions League final against Inter Milan at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul a week later, City fans sense an historic treble in the air.
But this weekend is more than a jolly for the Red Devils, who have already scooped up the first domestic silverware of the season on the hallowed turf.
They saw off Newcastle in February’s EFL Cup final to earn coach Erik ten Hag his first trophy at the club.
So which of the rivals will climb the steps to hoist their second pot of the year?
They certainly had contrasting experiences at the Wembley semi-finals back in April, as a Riyad Mahrez hat-trick saw City coast to a 3-0 victory over Championship side Sheffield United.
United’s clash with impressive Brighton was predicted to go all the way and so it proved, with Victor Lindelof netting the penalty shootout winner for a 7-6 spot kick success following stalemate after both regular and extra time.
Erling Haaland had already scored a treble for City in the quarter-finals, as club legend Vincent Kompany had no joy returning to the Etihad Stadium with his Burnley side, who were thumped 6-0.
Yet another second tier side, Bristol City, were swatted aside in round five, although the draw hadn’t been quite so kind to Guardiola and Co before that.
A squeaky 1-0 victory over EPL title rivals Arsenal took them through the fourth round at the Etihad, after a 4-0 battering of Graham Potter’s admittedly crumbling Chelsea had done the trick at the first hurdle in January.
Bruno Fernandes scored twice either side of Marcel Sabitzer to ensure safe passage to the last four for United, as the Red Devils overcame fellow top flight club Fulham 3-1 in the quarter-finals at Old Trafford.
It was hardly a surprising scoreline, with Erik ten Hag’s men producing identical results on home turf in all three previous rounds of the competition in a quirky sequence of events.
West Ham were the victims in round five, as David Moyes made an unsuccessful Old Trafford return, while Championship Reading and eventual, final day survivalists Everton fell to the same fate at the earlier hurdles.
English FA Cup prediction for 3 June
Manchester City vs Manchester United
| Result prediction | Manchester City to win |
| Over/Under prediction | over 2.5 goals |
| HT / FT prediction | Manchester City / Manchester City to win |
| Team to Score prediction | both teams |
| Anytime Goalscorer prediction | E. Haaland(Manchester City) J. Álvarez(Manchester City) M. Rashford(Manchester United) |