The last midweek Dugout Discussion of the season sees a repeat of the enthralling FA Cup Final between Manchester City and Stoke City. There’s no silverware at stake tonight, but for Man City there is the genuine incentive of leap-frogging Arsenal into third, with automatic Champions League qualification the reward for sitting there come Sunday evening.
Although not a televised game, the Dugout Discussion is open for business and serves to house your reactions as the news comes in. The first news in are those all-important line-ups…
Man City XI: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Zabaleta, Milner, De Jong, Silva, Yaya Toure, Adam Johnson, Tevez.
Stoke XI: Sorensen, Wilkinson, Collins, Shawcross, Wilson, Pugh, Diao, Whelan, Whitehead, Walters, Carew.
Roberto Mancini names David Silva and Carlos Tevez amongst his first eleven, with the former playing despite being tagged a major injury doubt. Aleksander Kolarov misses out again, to the annoyance of those still unfortunate to own him.
Stoke also make a host of changes, with popular fantasy players Asmir Begovic, Robert Huth and Matthew Etherington all sidelined for one reason or another. Elsewhere, John Carew earns a rare start at the expence of Kenwyn Jones.
