Man City vs Newcastle FA Cup quarter final date will please Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola is known to sarcastically thank the broadcasters and authorities for the scheduling of Manchester City matches - but he has a genuine reason to pass on his gratitude after the FA Cup quarter-finals were confirmed.

City knew they would host Newcastle at the Etihad after romping past Luton this week, and have the benefit of a free week in the build-up to the tie after the showdown with Liverpool at Anfield on March 10. After the last eight, City's players will jet off for international duty before returning to face Arsenal at the Etihad two weeks later.

Now, it has been confirmed that the Newcastle quarter-final will take place on the Saturday, giving City an extra day before their international games as opposed to playing a day later on the Sunday, something Guardiola will welcome.

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The Newcastle game will kick off at 5.30pm at the Etihad, and will be broadcast live on BBC One. It is the fourth time City have faced Newcastle this season, winning two narrow league games and losing 1-0 at St James' Park in the Carabao Cup.

City's schedule in March:

After those fixtures, City welcome Aston Villa, with Pep Guardiola discussing the testing run of decisive games before City took on United. "How nice [to have this run of fixtures]. I prefer that than the opposite," he said. "Everyone is so important and it is so nice to have this fixture against United, to have the chance to qualify for the quarter finals of the Champions League, then we have Anfield.

"And then before the international break we have the chance against Newcastle -