Manchester City will be without at least two players for Sunday’s League Cup final against Arsenal, but their awful Champions League display allowed them to rest some others.
Manchester City are set to be without two of their centre-backs for Sunday’s League Cup final against Arsenal, with Josko Gvardiol still injured and a long way off a return, and Marc Guehi ineligible to feature in the competition for City.
The good news for City is that Rico Lewis returned to the bench on Tuesday after a five-game absence with an ankle injury, though he may not be sufficiently match sharp for a cup final.
Another positive for Pep Guardiola is that City’s exit from the Champions League on Tuesday was so pathetic that they had the chance to rest a few players ahead of the weekend.
Already 3-0 down to Real Madrid from the first leg, City picked up a red card and went in at half-time lucky to only be 4-1 behind on aggregate. The tie was effectively over, and Guardiola withdrew Ruben Dias and Tijjani Reijnders at half-time.
With no sign of a comeback by the 56th minute, Guardiola also took off his primary goal threat Erling Haaland and Matheus Nunes, and he substituted Rodri in the 74th minute.
Though all of the above players had to play at least part of the Real Madrid match with 10 men, they were all ultimately protected ahead of the cup final.
The away side won 2-1 on the night to eliminate City 5-1 on aggregate, whilst Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals with a win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Neither Arsenal nor City are massively struggling with injuries at the moment.
Mikel Merino will be missing for the Gunners on Sunday, and there are doubts over Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber. But Eberechi Eze should be fit despite his knock on Tuesday, and it’s still possible Odegaard and Timber will be too.
The remainder of the squad will be available barring any issues in training, meaning the best-case scenario would see Merino as the only Arsenal absentee. There can be few excuses from either camp ahead of Sunday’s final.