Rodri & O’Reilly absent; Haaland & Cherki benched; Gvardiol returns: Man City line-up vs Crystal Palace | OneFootball

Manchester City stars Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki have been named on the bench against Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.

Pep Guardiola‘s side must win their game in hand over Premier League leaders Arsenal to cut the Gunners’ lead at the summit to two points ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup final against Chelsea.

City returned to winning ways against Brentford last week after a damaging 3-3 draw with Everton that has put Arsenal in the title race driving seat, though Guardiola has reminded his players that it is not done until it is truly done.

The Blues are chasing a domestic treble in the final fortnight of the season and having lifted the Carabao Cup at Wembley in March, City can add another piece of silverware to their cabinet by beating Chelsea in London on Saturday.

Guardiola has shuffled his pack for Crystal Palace on Wednesday night and ahead of the 20:00 UK kick-off at the Etihad Stadium, it has been confirmed that Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki are on the bench against the Eagles.

City have made six changes to their starting XI from Brentford, with Josko Gvardiol back in the lineup for the first time since going off with a tibial fracture in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in January.

Nico O’Reilly has been excluded from the matchday squad altogether, though that is not believed to be down to a fitness concern and is likely only down to rotation.

Rodri remains absent as he nurses a calf issue sustained in April’s 2-1 win over Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium, though Abdukodir Khusanov has returned to the lineup after missing the 3-0 win over Brentford with a knock.

Nico Gonzalez is also absent from the matchday squad as Guardiola keeps his promise of ringing the changes ahead of Saturday’s trip to Wembley.

To sum up, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Phil Foden, Omar Marmoush, Savinho and Khusanov have all come in for Manchester City – for Nathan Ake, Haaland, O’Reilly, Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders respectively – against Palace from last week’s starting XI against Brentford.