Confirmed Line-Ups: Manchester City vs Salford City (FA Cup Third Round) | OneFootball

Manchester City welcome the return of FA Cup action to their already-congested fixture schedule this season as League Two side Salford City visit the Etihad Stadium.

Pep Guardiola and his players have found somewhat of an improvement in their fortunes of late, coming into this weekend’s clash off the back of successive victories in their last two Premier League outings for the first time since late October.

The meeting with Salford also precedes a hugely difficult remainder of January and games that Manchester City simply must win in order to keep their hopes alive of success, particularly in the UEFA Champions League.

Back-to-back away trips to Brentford and Ipswich are accompanied by the visit of Chelsea to the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League, while Europe’s premier club competition brings an away clash against Paris Saint-Germain and the visit of Club Brugge on the final matchday.

Salford City come into the weekend’s clash against the reigning Premier League champions in a much stronger vein of form, winning all of their last games in League Two taking them to third in the division and giving them hopes of promotion this season.

Manchester City were boosted by the return of Oscar Bobb to first-team training in the week, but this one will come too soon for the Norwegian, who will remain sidelined alongside Rodri, Ruben Dias, and John Stones.

Ederson has returned to training following a recent leg injury, while the aforementioned Dias has returned to training ground activities to give him hope of a return to Manchester City action in the near future, too.

Ahead of kick-off at the Etihad Stadium, here is how both Pep Guardiola and Karl Robinson have lined up their respective Manchester City and Salford City sides in FA Cup Third Round action!

Manchester City

Starting XI: Ederson, Simpson-Pusey, Ake, Nunes, Gundogan, O’Reilly, McAtee, Doku, Grealish, Savinho, Mubama

Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Kovacic, Haaland, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Gvardiol, Akanji, Foden, Lewis

Salford City

Starting XI: Young, Berkoe, Ashley, Fornah, Lund, Tilt, Mnoga, Kouassi, Garbutt, Adelakun, Shephard

Substitutes: Jones, Watson, Stockton, Taylor, Chester, McAleny, Malcolm, Heys, Wright