Pep Guardiola gives worrying injury update on four Man City players ahead of FA Cup final vs Man Utd

Pep Guardiola has given a worrying injury and fitness update on his Manchester City squad less than a week before the FA Cup final against Manchester United.

The champions ended the 2022/23 Premier League campaign in disappointing fashion as they lost 1-0 to Brentford. City named an understrength side at the Gtech Community Stadium with Guardiola revealing after the match that Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish missed out through injury.

"We had four, five players with niggles, not injuries. They were not fit for a few days," said the 52-year-old, who also explained he didn’t bring on substitutes John Stones, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Erling Haaland due to fatigue.

"The guys who don’t play here were really exhausted yesterday. We spoke with them, they said they are mentally completely drained,” said Guardiola. “The guys who play today deserve it, the minutes for Nathan [Ake]. Aymer [Laporte] comes back again with 90 minutes. Kyle [Walker] we couldn’t give him time to rest, because I don’t have many substitutions.

“They needed to rest. Now to arrive with the right energy for United and the final of the Champions League,” added Guardiola.

Asked if he expects the injured players to return to training this week, the City boss responded: "I don’t know. Wednesday they will train, or a recovery session tomorrow. Hopefully, right now I don’t know.

"The guys who are in Manchester, Ruben didn’t train for 10 days, Jack Grealish neither. After Brighton, Kevin felt the same feelings as before weeks ago. They couldn’t play a few games. Not a big issue. I think they will be ready. They have to be ready in the training sessions,” Guardiola added, before he seemed to imply that players who featured against Brentford are more likely to start in the FA Cup final.

“That’s why today was so important to see these players how they are. Phil [Foden] is in incredible form, Riyad [Mahrez] plays really well, Cole [Palmer] so active in many things. We have to play who feels better in the final. That’s why it was good today to play with these guys and rest the other ones. Hopefully other players can recover."