How high-flying Leyton Orient plan to give Man City a bloody nose

“We will be delighted to welcome Manchester City and all their achievements,” says Travis. “It’s a treat for the players, the coaches, the spectators, and the Leyton Orient board.”

While City’s route to the fourth round was short and very sweet - an 8-0 win over neighbours Salford last time out - Orient’s journey has been longer and more dramatic.

They have knocked out Boreham Wood, Oldham and Derby - their second-round 2-1 win requiring a 99th-minute headed equaliser from on-loan Tottenham goalkeeper Josh Keeley to save them from defeat.

Orient’s target at the start of the season was to enjoy a better campaign than the last.

They have already made headway in all three cups and are well-placed to fare better in the league, which manager Richie Wellens maintains is his “main focus”.

Wellens and his coaching staff have structured this week just like any other, with training on Thursday and Friday specific to their weekend opponents.

But the Manchester-born manager, who began his playing career at Manchester United, knows full well this is no ordinary weekend fixture.

“In a league game, more often than not we have more of the ball than the opposition. This time, we don’t think we will,” he says unassumingly, and you’d hazard a guess he’s right.

“We won’t have loads of opportunities to score, so we need to make them count.”

For Wellens, who managed Oldham and Salford as well as Swindon and Doncaster before joining the O’s in 2022, Saturday ought to be a source of immense personal pride.

Is this not an unforgettable chance to share the dugout with arguably the greatest manager the sport has ever seen?

“I don’t disagree with that,” he says. “Pep [Guardiola] is a pioneer for different styles of play. The standard of coaching has gone up since Pep came to England. I’ve taken little things from him. He’s a bit of a genius.”

Yet Guardiola and fifth-place City have shown they are not so infallible this season. Can Orient cash in?

“I think we’ve seen weaknesses over the last few months,” Wellens admits. “Whether it be on turnover of possession or being pressed high. There were examples against Arsenal [who thrashed City 5-1 on Sunday].

“But it’s one thing identifying it; have we got the players capable of doing it? We’ll try to expose and exploit their weaknesses.”

Though captain Darren Pratley is a couple of minutes late to his interview with Standard Sport, it is for very good reason.

The midfielder has featured in 20 of Orient’s 24 league games this term and so receives acupuncture as part of his recovery. In a couple of months, he turns 40; first, though, time to smother City’s midfield creativity at source.

“Obviously they are missing Rodri - a top player - but there are still world-class midfield players in there. We’re not thinking they are vulnerable in midfield. They’ve got Phil Foden, [Kevin] De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva. The rotations they do, positions they get in, they can turn a game.”

Pratley went toe-to-toe with City twice in the 2011-12 Premier League season for Bolton. “To be playing the champions 14 years after I first did is something I wouldn’t have expected. I only think about my age when people say. I don’t feel it.

“But I’m more excited for our young players to see how the champions do what they do.”

Still, the veteran is optimistic an upset could be on the cards.

“We’ve got threats, ourselves. Our striker Charlie Kelman is on form, wide players are doing well. We need to have our best day at the office and them to have their worst. You never know what’s going to happen in the FA Cup.”

That much is for sure, and Travis chuckles as he recalls having to explain to football fans Stateside quite how his club have come to be playing Manchester City, many being unfamiliar with the difference between league matters and the David-and-Goliath workings of the oldest cup competition in the world.

“My wife lives here in Boston with me,” Travis says. “Even she is coming to see the game!

“The best feeling, being a chairman of a football club, is seeing the stadium full, a lot of noise, people in hospitality having a great time.

“We sometimes forget that football is an escape from the rigours of the world. It’s going to be two teams that play good football, on a good surface - it should be a spectacle.”