Manchester City take on Championship strugglers Peterborough in the FA Cup fifth round on Tuesday at London Road.
Manchester City will likely make a number of changes to their side as they visit Peterborough in the FA Cup.
With a huge Manchester derby with United coming up at the weekend, City can rest some important players and give some much-needed game time to fringe players or those returning from injury. Peterborough are bottom of the Championship and recently parted company with manager Darren Ferguson – son of Sir Alex – to replace him with former player and manager Grant McCann.
Pep Guardiola could recall players like Nathan Ake, Kyle Walker, Aleks Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Jack Grealish and Gabriel Jesus, while youngsters like Liam Delap and James McAtee may also hope for a call-up to get more first-team minutes. Zack Steffen and Cole Palmer would usually be in line to play this kind of game, but both have been injured recently.
City need to just pluck the players who were on the bench at Everton to form the basis of their XI at Peterborough – it should be strong enough to win the game.
That would give a front three of Gabriel Jesus, Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish, with Fernandinho coming in to midfield and Nathan Ake, Aleks Zinchenko and Kyle Walker returning to defence.
The one exception from using regular first-teamers should be James McAtee, who has not looked out of place wen he has played this season.
Other players who have not featured regularly, like John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan could make up the rest, and the safe bet in goal is Ederson, with Zack Steffen injured.
Joe Bray
If Zack Steffen is out, Ederson should play even though there will be calls for Scott Carson or youngster Ciaran Slicker. The primary objective is to get through to the next round, and Ederson can show City are serious about doing that. At the back, Pep says Aleks Zinchenko will come in, and Kyle Walker can also return on the right.
Daniel Murphy
With the Manchester derby coming up at the weekend, I’d use Tuesday’s trip to Peterborough to make as many changes as possible in order to freshen up the side.
In attack, Gabriel Jesus and Jack Grealish should return to the starting XI in order to get their match sharpness up after being sidelined for the last couple of weeks. It would also be interesting to see promising winger Kayky given an opportunity in the team.
James McAtee should also be given more first-team experience in the middle but the rest of the team would largely consist of the seniors, with Kyle Walker, Fernandinho Nathan ake and Aleks Zinchenko all coming in.
