Manchester City Faces Southampton in FA Cup Semi-Final Amid Injury Concerns
The Premier League takes a back seat for Manchester City this weekend as Pep Guardiola’s side faces Southampton today at Wembley in the first FA Cup semi-final. Southampton enters today’s match off the back of a 20-match unbeaten run, and the Saints have positioned themselves well in the Championship to potentially earn promotion. While City are the red-hot favorites for today’s match, a tough challenge awaits them at Wembley.
Here is the latest City injury news and my predicted City starting eleven for today’s FA Cup semi-final.
Latest City Injury News
Manchester City enters today’s match with three players unavailable due to injury. Once again, Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias will miss today’s match. Gvardiol is building his way back to fitness from the right tibial fracture he sustained at the beginning of 2026. Ruben Dias remains sidelined due to an ankle injury and may return at the beginning of next month for the final stages of this season.
Lastly, Rodri will not feature in today’s FA Cup semi-final. Pep Guardiola told the media that City will not take any risks with the fitness of their midfield general. When asked yesterday, during his pre-game press conference, if Rodri would play today, Guardiola said: “No. We don’t want to take the risk. I don’t know yet [if he will feature against Everton – hopefully, but as I say, we don’t want to take risks.”
“If he’s injured we lose him for the next three and he’s so important.”
While Southampton will be a tricky opponent for Manchester City today, it seems Pep Guardiola may rotate his squad for the match at Wembley. During Manchester City’s 1-0 win over Burnley, fatigue appeared to have hit Guardiola’s first-choice starting XI. Today’s match may present an opportunity for Guardiola to give his fringe players a chance to impress and prove their value on the biggest stage for Manchester City. My predicted City starting XI has come from this notion and can be seen below.
Predicted Manchester City Starting Eleven