All eyes will be on Wembley Stadium, in north London, this afternoon as Manchester City and Stoke City face each other in the FA Cup final.

The showdown could be dubbed as a clash of rags and riches. Stoke can never compare themselves with Man. City in the transfer market following the millions of pounds spent by the billionaire owners at Eastlands.

Yet, Potters manager Tony Pulis has been full of praise for club chairman Peter Coates for Stoke’s achievements in the past few years. Following the 5-0 win over Bolton in the semi-final, Pulis said that Coates had turned the club into a respected side in the top flight.

“We’ve had a plan in place since we got promoted in 2009 and now we want to build on that,” Pulis was quoted as saying.

“We have moved from the first year and will continue to get better. Staying in the Premier League is vital for us. It has given us a little bit more resource to get the players we want, those we know will improve the team.”

In today’s ‘Tale of two Cities’ Pulis will be hoping to take some revenge over Manchester City.

He was in charge at Gillingham when they faced Manchester City during the 1999 League One play-off final at Wembley Stadium.

Gillingham were leading 2-0 up to the 89th meeting but ended up losing the final on penalties.

Today, Manchester City will be contesting their first FA Cup final since 1981 after they ousted neighbouring rivals Manchester United 1-0 in the semi-final. Yaya Toure’s winner dashed the Red Devils’ hopes of a treble.

That derby success gave the City supporters something to cheer about and in midweek they got another boost when Roberto Mancini’s team made sure of playing in the Champions League next season after beating Tottenham 1-0.

Mancini will be hoping that striker Carlos Tevez declares himself fit for the final. If the Argentine misses out, the attacking berth could go to either Edin Dzeko or Mario Balotelli.

Dzeko has not been pleased with his lack of action at Eastlands and was frustrated to miss out on the semi-final win over United despite the absence of Tevez.

The Bosnian remarked that he wanted to cement his place in City’s history by bagging a goal in the FA Cup final. He cost City £32 million to sign from Wolfsburg.

Pulis boast a decent record against Man. City. In fact, he has seen Stoke remaining undefeated against Mancini’s men in four meetings since December 2009.

Stoke also knocked the Citi-zens out of the last season’s FA Cup in the fifth round.

This season’s Premier League clash at the Britannia Stadium ended all square – 1-1.

Incidentally, the return game was scheduled for this afternoon but the match has now been moved to next Tuesday.

Past duels

Stoke and Man. City have met six times in the FA Cup before. Both sides have won three ties each as follows:

2009-10 (fifth round Stoke-Man. City 3-1, after a 1-1 draw.

1975-76 (third round Stoke-Man. City 1-0.

1972-73 (fourth round Man. City-Stoke 3-2.

1933-34 (quarter-final Man. City-Stoke 1-0.

1927-28 (fifth round Man. City-Stoke 0-1.

1910-11 (first round Stoke-Man. City 1-2.

Manchester City have won the FA Cup four times and been on the losing end on four other occasions. Their honours have arrived as follows:

1969: vs Leicester 1-0.

1956: vs Birmingham 3-1.

1934: vs Portsmouth 2-1.

1904: vs Bolton 1-0.

Stoke have never reached the final in 148 years of history and could become the first new winners of the FA Cup since Wimbledon in 1988.

Their 5-0 semi-final victory over Bolton Wanderers at Wembley was the biggest at that stage of the competition since Wolves crushed Grimsby Town 72 years ago (5-0).

Stoke will play in Europe next season − win or lose − since Man. City finished in the top four.

Pulis has never won a trophy, yet he is proud that in his career as manager he has never been with a club that got demoted.

Way to Wembley

Third round:

Leicester-Manchester City 2-2.

Replay: 4-2.

Stoke City-Cardiff 1-1.

Replay: 2-0 after extra time.

Fourth round:

Notts County-Man. City 1-1.

Replay: 5-0.

Wolves-Stoke 0-1.

Fifth round:

Manchester City-Aston Villa 3-0. Stoke City-Brighton 3-0.

Quarter-final:

Manchester City-Reading 1-0. Stoke-West Ham 2-1.

Semi-finals:

Man. City-Man. United 1-0 (Yaya Toure). Stoke-Bolton 5-0 (Etherington, Huth, Jones, Walters 2).

Fixtures and standings

Premier league
(All kick-offs at 13.45)

Blackburn-Manchester Utd
Blackpool-Bolton
Sunderland-Wolves
West Bromwich-Everton

Tomorrow
Arsenal-Aston Villa - 17:00
Birmingham-Fulham - 16:00
Chelsea-Newcastle - 14:30
Liverpool-Tottenham - 17:00
Wigan-West Ham - 17:00

Standings: Man. United 76; Chelsea 70; Arsenal 67; Man. City 65; Liver-pool 58; Tottenham 56; Everton 51; Stoke, Bolton 46; Fulham 45; New-castle, Sunderland 44; West Brom 43; Aston Villa 42; Blackburn, Bir-mingham 39; Wolves 37; Blackpool, Wigan 36; West Ham 33.

Fa cup final

Today (Wembley) – 16.00

Manchester City-Stoke City

Play-Off Semi-Finals

Today’s first legs

League One

Bournemouth-Huddersfield - 13:45

League Two

Torquay-Shrewsbury - 18:45

Play-Off Semi-Finals

Tomorrow’s first legs

League One

MK Dons-Peterborough - 13:15

League Two

Stevenage-Accrington - 19:30

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