Manchester City and Liverpool face each other this Saturday at the Etihad Stadium for a match of the quarter-finals of the The FA Cup.
In their last game, Manchester City won 0-2 against Arsenal (Carabao Cup 2025/26). In their last fixture, Liverpool suffered a 2-1 reverse against Brighton & Hove Albion (Premier League 2025/26).
The last meeting between the two teams ended with Manchester City winning 2-1.
Both Pep Guardiola and Arne Slot saw the vast majority of their squads go away on international duty over the last 10 days, so there could be some shocks with the lineups depending on fitness and fatigue after long trips back to England.
Below we select our Manchester City vs Liverpool predicted lineups and look at the options for Guardiola and Slot.
Manchester City predicted lineup
——- Trafford ——-
—— Nunes —- Khusanov —- Guehi —- Ait-Nouri —-
—— Rodri —— Bernardo ——
—- Semenyo —- O’Reilly —- Doku —-
——- Haaland ——-
It will be very tough for Guardiola to make any changes to the team which beat Arsenal in the League Cup final before the break, as James Trafford will start ahead of Gianluigi Donnarumma as the former is City’s domestic cup goalkeeper and the latter will still be reeling from Italy’s shock failure to qualify for the World Cup.
Even though Ruben Dias and John Stones are potential options as they continue to recover from injury, Guardiola will likely start with Khusanov and Marc Guehi at center back with the latter coming back in after being ineligible for the cup final.
The most likely change is Rayan Ait-Nouri coming in at left back for Nico O’Reilly, with the England youngster perhaps pushing forward into midfield and Rayan Cherki dropping out. Several of City’s players went on long trips during the international break so that could see Guardiola switch things up depending on their fitness.
Liverpool predicted lineup
——- Mamardashvili ——
—- Gomez —- Konate —- Van Dijk —- Kerkez —-
—— Gravenberch —- Mac Allister —-
—— Salah —- Szoboszlai —- Wirtz —-
——- Ekitike ——-
Slot has confirmed that Alisson is still injured so Giorgi Mamardashvili will continue in goal. Jeremie Frimpong is a doubt so Joe Gomez or Dominik Szoboszlai will likely start at right back and will be tasked with stopping Doku. If it’s Szoboszlai at right back, Curtis Jones will start in midfield. If Mohamed Salah is fit he will start on the right with in-form Florian Wirtz starting on the left.
Cody Gakpo could come in if Salah isn’t fit and that may mean Wirtz playing centrally and Szoboszlai on the right wing. Up top Liverpool fans will have been delighted to see Hugo Ekitike start, and score, for France during the international break as he easily shook off the injury he suffered against Brighton before the break. They will also be excited to hear that Alexander Isak is back in training.
