Man Utd take on Man City aiming to take full advantage of their final opportunity to secure European qualification after a tough season.
Manchester City and Manchester United could both be without some big names for Saturday’s FA Cup final at Wembley, with Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia missing for United while City remain without Ederson
Pep Guardiola’s side knows a win would seal a domestic double, after victory over the same opponents in last season’s final helped set up an eventual Treble. In contrast, Erik ten Hag’s team go into the game knowing they need to win to qualify for Europe, with the manager’s future the subject of debate.
Both teams have been impacted by injuries during a long season. City was without Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne for multiple league games en route to winning the title, while United’s defensive woes forced them to use countless different centre-back pairings.
United looks set to be missing one of those centre-backs, with Harry Maguire ruled out of the Wembley showpiece. The England defender is one of three players Ten Hag will be without, while Guardiola is also not at full-strength.
“Yeah, Harry Maguire is unavailable but for the rest, all of the players you mentioned are available,” Ten Hag told reporters. While Shaw and Malacia remain sidelined, others – including longer-term absentees Victor Lindelof and Anthony Martial – are in contention to feature.
“Tomorrow final training and we make final decisions but the way I see it now it looks good,” he added. “Maguire? It (the injury) didn’t heal as expected.”
As for City, goalkeeper Ederson is the only significant absentee. The Brazilian international has been pulled out of his country’s Copa America squad after sustaining an injury playing for City against Spurs, though Stefan Ortega – set to start on Saturday – has been the club’s cup keeper regardless.
United boss Ten Hag wouldn’t be drawn on questions about his future. Thomas Tuchel has been linked with the job at Old Trafford after confirming his Bayern Munich exit, but the current manager insists he’s focused on Saturday’s task at hand.
“I have nothing to say,” Ten Hag insisted. “I’m just focusing on the job I have to do and that is first win the game on Saturday and then keep going with the project.
“I came here to win trophies and Saturday is the next opportunity. After every season you review it and we will see where we are in the project.
“There are things we have to change, we spoke lately about it, but there are some very good things, players coming up, values coming up and on Saturday we have a big opportunity to win the next trophy.”