Zack Steffen, Nathan Ake, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Jack Grealish, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus start at Wembley this afternoon.
Ederson, Ilkay Gundogan, Aymeric Laporte, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez, who all started our midweek Champions League game against Atletico Madrid, move to the bench.
And Kyle Walker misses out after picking up an injury in Madrid that saw him substituted early.
Teams
Manchester City
XI: Steffen, Cancelo, Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, Fernandinho (C), Bernardo, Foden, Grealish, Jesus, Sterling
Subs: Ederson, Dias, Gundogan, Laporte, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Delap, Lavia
Liverpool
XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Thiago, Keita, Diaz, Mane, Salah
Subs: Kelleher, Milner, Firmino, Gomez, Henderson, Jones, Jota, Tsimikas, Matip
Next Fixture
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BST
City tactics
It’s 4-3-3 for City today.
Zack Steffen, our domestic cup ‘keeper, takes his place in goal.
Joao Cancelo starts at right-back, with Oleksandr Zinchenko on the left-hand side. Both full-backs will be expected to add numbers to our attacks.
John Stones and Nathan Ake start at centre-back, with Ruben Dias still on the bench as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Fernandinho, who captains the side, will anchor the midfield and add steel, with Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden just ahead of him providing guile.
Jack Grealish, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling are likely to form our front three. As ever, our attacking players will rotate positions.
Guardiola on City’s fixture list
“It happens for one reason: because we’re fighting for all the titles.
“That is good news; I’m saying that with a big smile, it’s not that I am grumpy. I’m so happy to live that. It’s not an ideal situation but where in this world is an ideal situation?
“Look what happens two, three hours away from here [the Russia-Ukraine war]. So for tomorrow I say to my players: ‘Have good food, sleep a lot, take a nap. Sleep, sleep, sleep – a lot of hours, as many hours as possible, then good food and tomorrow at 3.30 we will be there [for the kick-off].”
Match stats
Manchester City
Should City win it will be Pep Guardiola’s 250th as manager of the Club.
This will be Manchester City’s 17th FA Cup semi-final tie.
City are appearing in our fifth FA Cup semi-final in the last six years – only missing out in 2017-18 – and all coming under Pep Guardiola. We have however lost three of the previous four games (W1) after what was an eight-match winning streak at this stage between 1933 and 2013.
City have won 18 of our last 20 matches in the FA Cup, losing the other two. We have scored 62 goals across those 18 victories, averaging 3.4 goals per game in those wins.
We have won 10 of our last 13 FA Cup games against top-flight teams (L3), although all three defeats came at the semi-final stage of the competition (2017 vs Arsenal, 2020 vs Arsenal and 2021 vs Chelsea).
Riyad Mahrez has scored four goals in three FA Cup games this season, double that of in his 20 appearances beforehand (2). He’s scored in round four, round five and the quarter-final this season – the last Premier League player to score in four consecutive rounds in the same campaign was Romelu Lukaku for Manchester United in 2017-18.
Pep Guardiola has guided Man City to five FA Cup semi-finals, more than twice as many as any other Man City manager.
Liverpool
Liverpool have progressed from eight of their last 10 FA Cup semi-final ties, only failing to do so in this run in 1989-90 (v Crystal Palace) and in their most recent appearance at this stage in 2014-15 under Brendan Rodgers (v Aston Villa).
Liverpool are looking to win five consecutive FA Cup matches for the first time since April 2012, when the fifth match in that run was a semi-final tie vs Everton (2-1).
This will be Liverpool’s 25th FA Cup semi-final tie; with the Reds progressing from eight of their previous 10 such ties in the competition. Liverpool will be looking to reach the FA Cup final for the first time since 2011-12.
Liverpool have kept only two clean sheets in their last 23 FA Cup matches against top-flight teams, winning 1-0 vs Everton in January 2020 and drawing 0-0 with West Ham in January 2016.
