Standing between Everton and a return to Wembley is a team in scintillating form.
Manchester City visit Goodison Park on Saturday in an FA Cup quarter-final tie having lost just one of their previous 32 competitive matches.
Their most recent win came in the Champions League in midweek, against Borussia Monchengladbach, keeping alive their ambitions of securing an unprecedented quadruple.
And the pursuit to achieve something that has never been done before remains City's biggest motivator - so don’t expect them to adopt a more casual approach to the weekend's cup clash with the Toffees.
The task looks like a tall one for the Blues, but the onus will be on Carlo Ancelotti to formulate a plan for success.
And for him, inspiration might be drawn from Manchester United who got the better of their arch-rivals two weeks ago.
United’s game-plan was clear; they wanted to break fast when possession was won, avoiding being counter-pressed when possible and, thereafter, give City very little time to drop into a proper defensive shape.
On average this season, Ole Gunnar Solskajer’s side have averaged 5.34 passes per team possession. However, in the match versus City, that average dropped to just 3.74 - one of their lowest across the term.
City are perhaps the best in world football at present but there is a sense that their current reputation earns them too much respect.
As a result, teams often start matches by sitting in and being fairly passive, focusing on not falling behind rather than trying to put pressure on the players in possession.
Notably, opponents have taken the lead against City just five times in the league all season.
Furthermore, there’s a metric called 'passes allowed per defensive action' (PPDA) which is used to measure how aggressively a team press high up the pitch by counting how many passes the opponent attempts before an action is made to try and win back the ball. The higher the number, the more lax the pressing is.
This season, City have the highest PPDA average against them with 23.22, indicating just how little teams look to try and engage with them high up the pitch.
Manchester United, however, took a different approach.
The average PPDA of City was reduced to a much lower 17.8, whilst in the opening 15 minutes, the average dropped to just 13.
We see below during the first minute of the match how aggressively United look to close City down.
Despite it being a throw-in to the hosts deep inside their own half, defender Harry Maguire has pushed high to pressure the receiver, Gabriel Jesus.
There’s a pack around the Brazilian forward as he tries to take control of the ball, forcing him to turn possession over.
United then quickly drive towards the box once the ball is won before forward Anthony Martial was brought down by Jesus for a penalty.
With a lead secured, United could pick and choose their moments to attack.
They made their rivals pay again early in the second-half after a quick and direct move was superbly finished by Luke Shaw.
Now, obviously, the theory of beating City is much easier said than done out on the pitch, and there’s a real chance that Guardiola’s men could simply prove to just have too much on the day for Everton.
However, if the Toffees are to have a shot, then perhaps any success could come down to starting the game at a fast pace, not letting the visitors settle into their stride and hopefully catching them cold.
City haven’t been tested enough in terms of having to overcome falling behind this season, and the evidence from their defeat to Manchester United suggests that it’s not something they do with ease.
Furthermore, Everton’s Premier League record when taking the lead this season (W13, D1, L1) is a good one, adding further authenticity to the assumption that scoring first, and early, could represent their best chance of securing a huge victory.
