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 enter 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. So while City are the red-hot favourites for today’s match, a tough challenge does await Manchester City 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 enter 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 he 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, you do sense that Pep Guardiola may rotate his squad for today’s match at Wembley. During Manchester City’s 1-0 win over Burnley, it did look like fatigue had hit Pep Guardiola’s first-choice starting XI. Today’s match may be an opportunity for Pep Guardiola to give his fringe players an opportunity to impress and prove that they can contribute 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.