Man United vs Man City injury news: four FA Cup final absentees confirmed

It has been confirmed that four players will miss the 2024 FA Cup final between Manchester United and Manchester City, which is due to take place at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

For the second season in a row, Manchester United and Manchester City will face off in the FA Cup final, with City having been crowned Premier League champions just the weekend before.

However, this time around, Erik ten Hag‘s season has been vastly different from the last’s. The club has failed to meet expectations in all competitions, making the FA Cup their last chance to secure both a trophy and qualification for Europe.

Read More: Roberto De Zerbi’s stance on Man United move explained during Fabrizio Romano update

Last season, City emerged victorious, with İlkay Gündoğan scoring twice to surpass Bruno Fernandes’ first-half penalty. Many blamed David de Gea’s poor goalkeeping for United’s loss in the final.

United have suffered from a series of injuries this season, making entire teams’ worth of players unavailable through injury, but it has now been confirmed that only three players from Ten Hag’s side cannot feature in the final.

“Harry Maguire is unavailable but the rest, all the players you mentioned [Lindelöf, Mount, and Martial], they are – I think – available,” Ten Hag told journalists on Thursday afternoon.

“We have, tomorrow, final training and then we have final decisions. But, as I oversee it now, it looks good.”

Victor Lindelöf and Mason Mount have both returned to the team and are included in the matchday squad, but Anthony Martial was not spotted with the side that travelled to London on Friday afternoon.

Although Maguire misses out, United now have Lisandro Martínez, Raphaël Varane, Jonny Evans, Willy Kambwala, and Lindelöf all as options at the back, with Varane and Martínez likely to start together for the final time.

Varane will leave Old Trafford as a free agent after the game. Left backs Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia are both unavailable for the game.

For Man City, Guardiola is without first-choice goalkeeper Ederson for the fixture. Stephan Ortega, who has been called upon multiple times in the last few months, has done a stellar job as the Brazilian’s deputy and will start in the FA Cup final.

Beyond this, City have a full outfield squad to choose from after Jack Grealish recovered from illness last week.