Fergie suggests City could crumble under the pressure

Sir Alex Ferguson has questioned whether Manchester City have the nerve to win today’s showdown at Wembley.

Ferguson knows his Manchester United players can handle the pressure of the big occasion, having been there and emerged victorious on countless occasions.

But he questioned whether the enormity of the occasion, and the pressure on City to end their 35-year wait for a trophy, may ultimately get to Roberto Mancini’s players.

“It’s possible,” said Fergie. “I don’t know the mental side of any of their players, because I’ve not worked with any of them.

“Only Roberto will know that, he’ll know his players much better. But it’s very difficult to block out [the occasion], simply because sometimes it overrides everything else.

“And Wembley is an occasion stadium. When you go there it’s for an important reason, and that can affect some players. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. It’s a fact.

“But I know my own players and they’ve obviously been used to big game situations many times, so we don’t have to conquer that.

“I have a group of players who are confident going into games, their attitude is great and I couldn’t ask for a better situation than I’ve got.

“The players are in form and the squad is getting stronger with players back.

“It wouldn’t matter which game we were going into, I’d believe in these players.

“At the moment they’ve got a great momentum about them, which is a fantastic thing to have at this stage of the season.”