Manchester City can book their place in the final of the FA Cup today when they face Southampton at Wembley.
Pep Guardiola arrives at Wembley
Pep Guardiola arrives at Wembley
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Pep Guardiola pointed to Manchester City's busy schedule when asked about his team selection vs Southampton in the FA Cup semi-final.
Only three players who started at Turf Moor on Wednesday have been named in City's starting XI at Wembley. Erling Haaland has dropped to the bench with Omar Marmoush leading the line, while Phil Foden is given his opportunity from the start.
City are, of course, locked in a fierce title race with Arsenal and could slip to second this evening when the Gunners face Newcastle United.
With one eye on the title race and City's next league outing against Everton on Monday, 4 May, Guardiola told the BBC why he had opted to make so many changes.
“I have a lot of experience and I don’t want to feel arrogant but in these stages when you play every three days, I felt incredible loss of energy," he said. "The selection of the team is top, the players are top, we just want to bring the energy we need to sustain our game as high as possible.”
Today's game kicks off at 5.15pm and you can follow live coverage of the clash in our live blog. Click here for live updates >>>