Manchester City

After Manchester City cruised into another FA Cup semi-final on Saturday by beating Newcastle United 2-0, BBC Radio Manchester's We're Not Really Here podcast team have their say on a draw that could see a repeat of last year's final against rivals Manchester United.

Mike Minay, Natalie Pike and YouTuber Steven Mcinerney also discuss the partnership of Mateo Kovacic and Rodri as well as a fine performance by Jeremy Doku performance against the Magpies.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

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Rodri believes "the best version" of Manchester City will emerge as the Premier League title race approaches it's conclusion.

After the international break, Pep Guardiola's side face league leaders Arsenal before a Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid and an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea.

"This break is going to be good for us," Rodri said. "You will see the best version of this team at the end of the season.

"It always happens: because of the manager, because of the standards of the club, because of ourselves and the ways we have learned over these years.

"We asked the lads to rest as much as possible. I know it's tough but we have friendly games [on international duty]. It's important to play for our national teams but also to think about the end of the season. I think the best is yet to come."

Unusually, City enter the business end of the season third in the Premier League table, albeit only a point behind leaders Arsenal.

Rodri is utterly unflustered by that and is confident he and his team-mates will put themselves in position to win the remaining three trophies this seaosn.

"I think if you ask ourselves before the season which position we would be able to be in it would be exactly this one," he said. "Involved in every competition, wanting to fight for everything and that is the situation that we're going to get after the international break.

"We can win everything, of course [but] it will be so, so tough.

"We asked ourselves at the beginning of the season to be in a situation where we could at least fight to the end. The job is done up until now and now we have to do the last push."

We asked for your thoughts on Saturday's FA Cup game between Manchester City and Newcastle United.

Here are some of your responses:

City fans

Stella: Competent performance without ever being stretched by a Newcastle side strangely devoid of ambition. It was good to see Ortega get some game time. Foden through the middle is always a joy to watch. Newcastle only had one clear chance and I did expect them to take the game to City in the second half, but it didn’t happen. Onwards to Wembley, City!

Steve: I enjoyed the game, but Haaland seemed very flat-footed and he wasn't chasing balls. He spent most of the match walking and looked really out of sorts, out of condition. I'm a big fan of his. However, Newcastle were poor. Brilliant support from the Geordies - their fans deserved better.

John: I thought City were back to their silky, smooth-passing best. Newcastle couldn't cope, other than cramming everyone in their penalty area and, when having one or two attacks, they seemed to run out of ideas in the City penalty area. If all else failed, Newcastle opted for bundling attacking players to the turf.

Peter: No disrespect to Newcastle, but that was about as easy as a cup quarter-final can get. We had total control throughout. Yes, there was a bit of good fortune about the two goals, but City never needed to get out of first gear. A very good all-round team performance.

Newcastle fans

Simon: It was always going to be difficult playing away to City. They have a number of world-class players, and the difference showed. The goals resulted from defensive mistakes and they controlled the game. The few chances we did have, were not converted. I thought that Murphy played well and the second-half changes at least created more opportunities.

Mike: Another disappointing performance. Poor selection from Eddie, who continues to use players who aren't good enough - Longstsff and Burn for example. Eddie's alarm clock went off at 60 minutes, as per usual, and he woke up realising he had got it wrong again. Woeful to say the least!

Barry: Very disappointed with every player. As a supporter, I'm heartbroken by the lack of will to win this huge game. There was absolutely no will to win throughout the team, before the game and during the game.

David: A season of highs and lows heavily affected by injuries, the Tonali affair, and the Ashworth debacle. Howe has struggled to put a team on the pitch at times, as it's clear the squad has no depth. A clearout and a series of signings in key positions beckons, as we say goodbye to many players who actually got United promoted.

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

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Now they know who is through to the FA Cup semi finals, the Premier League have the list of fixtures that need to be confirmed before the end of the season. These will have to be slotted into a couple of spare midweeks that do not include European fixtures.

The first is immediately after the semi-finals in April, the second is before the final weekend.

Manchester City have two games to fit in, so will need both.

The big question for the Premier League is whether just City play in that midweek, or if Arsenal's outstanding home game against Chelsea and Liverpool's Merseyside derby trip to Everton, both of which were due to be played in the weekend just gone, are played in the April or May slot.

All three clubs playing three games in the final week sounds like something that could create a huge amount of drama.

Mark Chapman introduces highlights and analysis from the weekend's FA Cup quarter-finals.

If you missed any of the action, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to the weekend's BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra match commentaries in full:

Wolves v Coventry

Man City v Newcastle

Chelsea v Leicester

Manchester City are in advanced talks to sign 14-year-old USA youth forward Cavan Sullivan, who is part of the academy at Philadelphia Union but is yet to sign a professional contract. (The Athletic - subscription required, external)

Want more transfer news? Read Monday's full gossip column

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The draw has been made for the FA Cup semi-finals and all four remaining teams know who they will be facing at Wembley.

Coventry City v Manchester United

Manchester City v Chelsea

The ties will be played on Saturday, 20 April and Sunday, 21 April.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been speaking to BBC Match of the Day following the win: "It sounds really good. I know we play to win the finals, but to win it, you have to win the earlier rounds.

"We won four Carabao Cup finals in a row and now we are in six FA Cup semi-finals in a row.

"To run and play the way they did is incredible. Congratulations to the team, no one has done that before. We played really well.

"We were so safe with the ball. Mateo [Kovacic], Rodri and Bernardo [Silva] kept the ball so well. The game was really good.

"You see us when we come back every three days, three days, three days, three days. We need Kevin [de Bruyne], Jack [Grealish] and Erling [Haaland] to come back in the best possible conditions."

Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden has been speaking to BBC Match of the Day after they progressed through to the FA Cup semi-finals: "I thought we controlled the game really well. We had a lot of the ball and tried to find the right moment to attack, and I think we did that really well.

"We were always talking about [winning more trophies]. The hunger is still there. We will keep going.

"This one of the best squads I have ever seen. At this stage of the season, we are going to need everyone."

On his own form this season: "I'm really happy with it. I'm just playing with a smile on my face and hopefully I will continue to do that."