The 2019 FA Cup semifinals kick off Saturday with Manchester City and Brighton. It’s a classic FA semifinal where an upstart underdog puts its heart on the line against a giant brand capable of breezing through—if the lads show up. After all, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is prioritizing two bigger trophies—the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League—this spring. Will City outclass its minnow rival? Or can Brighton cobble a magic afternoon of upset-minded soccer? Here is everything you need to know to watch a Manchester City vs. Brighton live stream for free.
FA Cup semifinal: Manchester City vs. Brighton
- When: Saturday, April 6, 12:30pm ET
- Where: Wembley Stadium in London
- Watch: ESPN+
FA Cup live stream: How to watch Manchester City vs. Brighton for free
ESPN+
- Cost: $4.99 per month or $49.99 for 12 months (after a free 7-day trial)
- Devices: Amazon Fire Stick and Fire TV, Android and Kindle Fire, Google Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, iOS and Android devices
The FA Cup will be broadcast exclusively online through ESPN+ this year, a development that makes the $4.99 per month price for the service look even cheaper. Thankfully, you can get started with a one-week trial, allowing you to watch Man City vs. Brighton for free. For those of you wondering what ESPN+ is, the new streaming platform launched by ESPN last year has the rights to thousands of live broadcasts of leagues such as the MLB, NHL, Boxing, the English FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, the English League Championship, and the Italian Serie A, not to mention 20 exclusive UFC Fight Night events each year.
There are plenty of other reasons to subscribe too. ESPN+ is where you’ll find original series like Kobe Bryant’s Detail and NBA: Year One. Then there’s the entire 30 for 30 catalog—all 150-plus entries and counting—which you can download and watch on-demand. You’ll also gain access to exclusive articles and see fewer ads across the ESPN network. That’s a helluva bargain for $4.99 per month.
Manchester City vs. Brighton: Why it matters
An FA Cup for Man City is like a Grammy to Beyoncé—been there, done that. (Five times to be exact, though not since 2011.)
It’s cool that Raheem Sterling secured 500 tickets for kids from his old school to the game, but that’s only because City’s fourth trip to Wembley Stadium this season isn’t exactly a hot ticket for Manchester fans.
But this is the FA Cup, March Madness for British soccer, where unlikely Cinderellas can knock out bigger clubs and get to the end. Like Hull City in 2014, when the small-time, now-relegated club held a 2-0 lead on Arsenal in the title game before eventually falling short, this game is about the opportunity for Brighton to take a swing at the champs. A reported 34,000 Seagulls fans are making the trip to London for the semifinal: Sure you may be behind by 47 points in the Premier League standings, and oddsmakers think the Seagulls are huge underdogs, but as ESPN’s Chris Berman famously said: That’s why they play the game.
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