There’s one more fixture to come before Double Gameweek 36 is over: Manchester City v Crystal Palace.
The managers of these two clubs, Pep Guardiola and Oliver Glasner, face the media on Tuesday ahead of their clash at the Etihad.
We’ll have all the injury updates and key quotes in the article below.
MANCHESTER CITY
Starting with the injury news, Guardiola said Rodri (groin) is “better” ahead of the visit of Palace. The Spanish midfielder hasn’t featured since the 2-1 win over Arsenal in mid-April.
“Better. We’ll see in training this afternoon.” – Pep Guardiola on Rodri
Abdudokir Khusanov (knock) is also, you guessed it, “better”. The Uzbek defender sat out the win over Brentford.
“Better. He had a tough, tough knock against Beto in the Everton game. Yeah, he’s better.” – Pep Guardiola on Abdudokir Khusanov
Asked if either player was a doubt for the FA Cup final, which follows three days after Gameweek 36’s concluding fixture, Guardiola seemed to give a clean bill of health to the rest of his squad.
“No. We arrive good, in terms of the squad.” – Pep Guardiola on if either Abdudokir Khusanov or Rodri is a concern for the FA Cup final
Remember that even long-term absentee Josko Gvardiol (leg) is back in training now.
Away from injuries, the big question concerns rotation. Will it happen against Palace, and how much of it? Guardiola hinted that there may be a degree of tinkering after Saturday’s win over Brentford.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s match, the City boss said the visit of the Eagles is, in isolation, not a problem in terms of recovery time. However, he suggested that his team selection in midweek could be made with one eye on the games that follow it.
“It’s not a problem for [the Palace] game. We arrive [after] four days and a half. But of course, after three days, we travel to London. And after, we come back, Bournemouth. So, of course, three days, three days. I have to think about it, yeah.” – Pep Guardiola on his teamsheet considerations for the Palace match
There is an embargoed section of this presser still to come at 10.30pm BST on Tuesday, so we’ll keep our eyes peeled for any notable quotes emerging from that.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Glasner says he has the same squad for Wednesday’s match as he did for Sunday’s draw with Everton.
Eddie Nketiah (hamstring) and Cheick Doucoure (knee/muscle/match fitness) remain out.
Evann Guessand (knee) and Borna Sosa (unspecified) have trained as of today but the pair are targeting a Gameweek 37 return instead.
“It will be the same squad like against Everton.
“Evann Guessand and Borna Sosa took part in the first part of the training session. We are now working towards Brentford [on Sunday] with Evann and Borna. Hopefully, they are available for this game. They also need a few minutes to get back into shape.
“All the others are fine.” – Oliver Glasner, quoted by the Palace website
Away from injuries, Glasner was asked about the prospect of rotation on Wednesday.
“You could have the found the answer before because when you watch our games – let’s say, starting with Florentina – when we had now this amount of games playing every third day, we always rotated a few players. This was between the Fiorentina games, I think it was Newcastle. It was then West Ham. It was at Bournemouth when we also planned our substitutions after 45 minutes at half-time, and it’s just necessary. Such a long season.
“But also I showed the players today, and that really impressed me massively, is in the last league round against Everton, in every physical data, we were top three in the Premier League. It’s just playing three days after Shakhtar, more or less the same team, and I think I did made two substitutions, and it just shows in what incredible shape all the players are physically.
“I always talk to the players. I look into their eyes, how they show, how they walk, how they train. It’s not really training to be honest. It’s just a little bit of moving around and having fun. But I’m watching how they move around and then hopefully picking the team that does best.” – Oliver Glasner on the prospect of rotation
“Now it’s getting everybody into a situation where he can be his best version at the final. This, of course, means giving a few players maybe a bit more minutes to show up also to get back into a rhythm. But on the other side, to keep the players in a rhythm who are doing really well. For example, like Ismaila [Sarr] and the backline, Max Lacroix, I don’t know, played 46, 47 or 52 games already, or whatever, I don’t know.
“And this is how we want to deal with these three Premier League games, always nominating the best available players for this game but also, of course, managing the minutes, let’s say better, not just for this game, also for the other games. I made, for example, two substitutions against Everton but now I really plan to have always five substitutions, earlier substitutions, so that we can split the minutes among the players.” – Oliver Glasner on preparations for the UEFA Conference League final
