Maritzburg lost 1-0 at home to City in their MTN8 opener in August, with Benni McCarthy's side going on to win the event last weekend with a 4-1 victory on penalties over former cup holders SuperSport United at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
The Team of Choice will look to gain some measure of revenge when they entertain the Citizens in the league at Harry Gwala Stadium tonight (20h00).
"They deserved to beat us, to knock us out of the cup, and they deserved to win the cup," Davids said.
"We were still finding our feet at that time, now we are a bit better. It'll be a similar game like on Tuesday (0-0 draw with AmaZulu]; open football, both teams trying to attack and we'll see which team wins.
"Lke I always say, it's not necessarily the best players on the pitch but the best team on the pitch."
United claimed four points from their two Absa Premiership meetings with McCarthy's side last term, which included a 4-2 comeback victory at KwaMashu's Princess Magogo Stadium in a fixture that City moved to Durban due to drought conditions in the Cape.
Davids feels the visitors have developed a clear identity under McCarthy.
"There's a clear structure how Cape Town City plays. There is a clear structure on how they defend, whether it is zone two or whether they press high up, or in terms of how they attack with the wingers playing in their own spaces, with the wingers playing out wide, fullbacks overlapping, underlapping - there's a clear structure of how exactly they do things," Davids said.
"That's credit to him [McCarthy] how he transformed that team to what they are. It's very similar to the AmaZulu team, now in their second year with the coach [Cavin Johnson] and you can definitely see it.
"You also can't take away the signings they've made; bringing players from Europe, really top signings to strengthen the team and take the team to the next step ... and that's definitely where they are this season.
"Cape Town City, I'm sure they already had a better season than last season in getting the cup now. But in the league I'm sure they'll do the same thing, even better."
Both clubs are above the drop zone courtesy of goal difference with six points, with Maritzburg having a game in hand after six outings for Davids' charges.