Why Ruben Dias is not in Man City squad vs Arsenal as Carabao Cup final teams announced
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has ruled out yet another centre-back ahead of the League Cup final with Arsenal.
Manchester City suffered an injury blow ahead of the Carabao Cup final when Ruben Dias was ruled out of the game with a hamstring injury. The centre-back lasted just 45 minutes against Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek and was not included in the squad to face Arsenal on Sunday.
It leaves Pep Guardiola without two of his best centre-backs, as Mark Gehey is ineligible due to an obscure rule that disqualifies him for not joining Crystal Palace ahead of City’s semi-final first leg with Newcastle. The January signing will be forced to sit out the game, while Antoine Semenyo could play following his move from Bournemouth.
Without Guehi and Dias, Guardiola has swapped Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly for Uzbek international Abdulkadir Khushanov and Dutch veteran Nathan Ake in defence. John Stones could also feature but is only on the bench, having missed last week’s game at West Ham through injury before returning to the squad against Real.
James starts in the Trafford goal, even though Gianluigi Donnarumma is City’s No. 1. 1. Guardiola has almost always allowed his No. 2 goalkeepers to keep their place in domestic cup competitions, even when the Blues reached the final, with Claudio Bravo, Zack Stephan and Stefan Ortega all at Wembley before.
Mikel Arteta has adopted the same approach at Arsenal, with Kepa Arrizabalaga starting ahead of No. 1. 1 David Raya on Sunday. Capa started for Chelsea in the 2019 League Cup Final against City and refused to come on before the penalty shoot-out and ended up on the losing side.
Arsenal are favourites for Sunday’s game as they look to win the first leg of a historic quadruple this season, but City are still chasing three domestic trophies as Guardiola aims to add another trophy to his collection and become the most successful manager in League Cup history.
