Pep Guardiola is considering ditching his usual policy of playing Zack Steffen in domestic cup games as Manchester City gear up to face Liverpool. The FA Cup semi-final at Wembley will be the second meeting of the Premier League’s top two in six days following last Sunday’s 2-2 draw which ensured City stayed top.
Guardiola normally prefers to play his reserve goalkeeper in the FA Cup and League Cup, to ensure they get games under their belts in case they are needed to step in, and also as a reward for long hours on the training ground without much matchday action. Steffen has played in every domestic cup game this season when fit, but Guardiola admitted he may stick with Ederson for the clash with Jurgen Klopp’s team.
Liverpool were bold enough to press City high last week, and Ederson’s kicking game is much better suited to that style. With City suffering a couple of injuries and with plenty of tired limbs just three days after a tough Champions League game against Atletico Madrid, Guardiola is giving the matter serious consideration.
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“I am going to think about it,” he said. “We still have until training tonight and then speaking with the doctors and physios for the condition for many players and tonight or tomorrow morning I’ll decide, but of course in the FA Cup normally we play Zack.”
It is not unprecedented in Guardiola’s six years with the club - Ederson played at Peterborough as Steffen was injured, and the Brazil goalkeeper also stepped in when his stand-in Claudio Bravo was out injured in the 2019 FA Cup semi-final defeat by Arsenal.
In the League Cup final of the previous season, when Bravo was out for the entire campaign through injury, Guardiola opted to play third-choice Arijanet Muric in the Carabao Cup all the way to the final, when he opted for Ederson’s greater experience. He fielded Ederson throughout their successful FA Cup campaign.
He also opted to bring first-choice Bravo in for Willy Caballero for the fifth round onwards of the FA Cup in his first season at City, having played the Argentine in the Carabao Cup, and when he was chasing a trophy to brighten up a troubled debut season.
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