Pep Guardiola insisted he will take Manchester City's FA Cup third round clash against "hometown club" Salford City in their quest to reclaim the trophy they lost last year. 

Guardiola's side reached the final of last year's competition but were beaten 2-1 by rivals Manchester United back in May at Wembley. 

After a torrid end to 2024, the Citizens started the new year with a comfortable 4-1 victory over West Ham, earning back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since October.

And Guardiola will be confident of overseeing three consecutive triumphs in all competitions given City's excellent record at this stage of the FA Cup in recent seasons. 

They haven’t been eliminated in the third round of the FA Cup since 2011-12, when they lost 3-2 to Man United. Including replays, they’ve won their last 11 third round matches by an aggregate score of 46-4.

Since losing 1-0 to Wigan in the FA Cup fifth round in 2017-18, City have also won their last 24 matches against sides from a lower division (across both the EFL Cup and FA Cup) by an aggregate score of 88-12.

Saturday's meeting with the Class of 92 owned Salford will be their first ever encounter in all competitions, and Guardiola intends to give the clash his full attention. 

"I’ve lived in Salford for the last eight years, so I will be playing against my neighbourhood, my home town," Guardiola said. 

"I have a lot of respect for the manager [Karl Robinson], we played years ago at Oxford and when he was assistant to Sam Allardyce at Leeds.

"The last six games, six clean sheets and six victories, so I have huge respect for them and what they do, the intensity, and we will take it seriously, like we always have done.

"Hopefully, we can play a good game and make it three wins in a row – it’s a long time since it happened."

Guardiola was also on hand to distance the club from rumours linking them with a move for Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush during the January window. 

Marmoush has been the standout for Dino Toppmoller's side this season, registering 29 goal involvements (18 goals, 11 assists) across all competitions this campaign. 

The Egyptian's 13 Bundesliga goals is a total only bettered by Bayern Munich's Harry Kane (14), while he has had more shots (64) than any other player in the division. 

"I was clear in my answer - I'm not going to talk. He's a player from another club, I'm not saying an answer.

"You can say in every single press conference to talk about the transfer window until the end, I'm not going to answer one question!

"In the past, the same happened. I was clear. You can try it any time you want, no problem at all, but you know my answer. It’s easy. No comment."