Manchester City without six players for FA Cup semi-final

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has confirmed he’ll be without six of his players for the FA Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

Oscar Bobb, who’s only recently returned to fitness after a broken leg suffered in Augusta, returns to the treatment table after suffering a hamstring issue.

Ederson has missed City’s last two games through injury and Guardiola is uncertain as to whether or not he’ll be back for the Forest tie.

“We’ll see,” said Guardiola when asked about Ederson’s involvement. “He is coming back to training a little bit. But I don’t know if he’ll be ready for this game.”

Erling Haaland will miss another few weeks but would hope to be fit for the final should City get there.

“He feels better,” said Guardiola. “I don’t know when [he’ll return]. It’s not a comfortable injury, he’s getting better step-by-step. Still, he doesn’t train with the team, but we will see how he does.”

Nathan Ake, who’s struggled with injury all season, should also return before the end of the season but will miss the FA Cup semi with a foot injury.

John Stones, who’s also missed much of the campaign through injury, was believed to need surgery, but his latest setback wasn’t as bad as first fearer, and while he’ll miss Sunday’s Wembley affair, he should return before the end of the season.

Rodri, who’s missed most of the campaign with an ACL injury, is in light training but may not appear again for City until the Club World Cup in the summer.a

It should all go to provide Nottingham Forest with the confidence they can pull off an upset at Wembley and reach a first FA Cup final since 1991, when they were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur.

Forest have stumbled somewhat over the last couple of months with six wins in 13 and two of those coming against Ipswich and Southampton, but they have beaten Manchester City in that time with Callum Hudson-Odoi scoring the game’s only goal back in March.

Had Forest fans been offered an FA Cup final or a place in the UEFA Champions League at the start of the season, they’d have jumped at the chance of either.

While manager Nuno Espirito Santo won’t want to get too far ahead of himself, admitting that they are ‘in a fight no one expected’, there’s a chance the next few weeks will create memories fans will remember for a lifetime.

Liam Williams

• Manchester City F.C.
• FA Cup
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