Huddersfield Town’s exciting Danish midfielder Philip Billing is enjoying his first taste of the FA Cup.
The 20-year-old made his bow in the competition as Port Vale were beaten 4-0 at the John Smith’s Stadium in round three.
And he was back in the starting side at Rochdale, who were beaten by the same scoreline in round four.
Now, with Jonathan Hogg out injured and on-loan Aaron Mooy ineligible against his parent club, Billing has a big role in Saturday’s home round-five showdown with Manchester City.
He could well be partnered by Dean Whitehead, who appeared against the Etihad side as a Stoke City player in the final at Wembley in 2011.
“Deano is a great player who has helped me a lot,” explained the 6ft 5in star, signed from Esbjerg in 2013.
“He’s got a lot of experience and has played many Premier League games so knows what it’s like playing sides like Manchester City.”
Billing is also hoping to come up against one of his idols in Yaya Toure.
The 33-year-old Ivorian is being tipped to play for Pep Guardiola’s side and Billing explained: “I’ve always liked him as a player.
“It goes back to his time at Barcelona and I have watched him closely at Manchester City."
Billing, who has featured 13 times in all this season (seven starts) says the theme of the Championship promotion chasers’ build-up has been normality.
“Our approach all season has been to take each game as it comes,” he added.
“We got a big (3-2) win at Rotherham United on Tuesday, so we only started looking at Manchester City after that.
“Our form is great (six straight wins in all competitions) and we always try to play our own way.
“This will be a really good test for us, and we want to show what we’re all about.”
Neither side has yet conceded a goal in the FA Cup, with City winning 5-0 at West Ham United in round three and 3-0 at Crystal Palace in round four.
There’s some debate among both sets of supporters about who will be keeping goal.
Joel Coleman, Town’s £100,000 summer signing from Oldham Athletic, has been David Wagner’s pick for both ties so far, but could on-loan Liverpool stopper Danny Ward feature?
Meanwhile City have plumped for the experienced Argentinian Willy Caballero, but it’s believed Guardiola could give a run-out to Chilean Claudio Bravo against Town.
Meanwhile Caballero’s compatriot Pablo Zabaleta may be the selection at right-back with Frenchman Gael Clichy on the right.
Another Argentinian, Nicolas Otamendi and Belgian star Vincent Kompany are line to take the two central defensive berths.
