Why Ruben Dias and John Stones are absent from Manchester City squad for Liverpool FA Cup tie | OneFootball

Manchester City defenders Ruben Dias and John Stones are missing from the matchday squad for Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final tie against Liverpool.

The Blues won their first trophy in two seasons last time out at Wembley as a brace of headers from man-of-the-moment Nico O’Reilly within four minutes in the second-half sealed a 2-0 win in the Carabao Cup final over Arsenal.

Guardiola’s side are still chasing Arsenal in the Premier League and remain nine points adrift of the Gunners with eight games left to play, though City have a game in hand over Mikel Arteta’s men and will play them at the Etihad Stadium on April 19.

City have a mountain to climb in the title race but will take huge confidence from their comfortable win over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final, starting this weekend against Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-final as the Blues look to schedule another visit to Wembley.

Why Dias and Stones are missing vs Liverpool

Ruben Dias suffered a hamstring injury that saw the Portugal international miss the Carabao Cup final a few weeks ago, clouding doubt over his availability for a run of monumental games – against Liverpool (FA Cup), Chelsea (Premier League) and Arsenal (Premier League) – after the international break.

However, John Stones returned to City to undergo medical tests after suffering a calf injury in the days leading to the draw with Uruguay, wherein he was an unused substitute.

Guardiola was not asked for an update on Manchester City’s fitness in his pre-Liverpool press conference on Friday but ahead of Saturday’s 12:45 (UK) kick-off in the FA Cup quarter-final, it has been confirmed that Stones and Dias are missing from the matchday squad.

Manchester City’s official channels have confirmed that Stones and Dias are both missing the cup tie through injury, with Guardiola expected to provide a wider update on their respective issues after full-time.

Guardiola has made one change to the Manchester City starting XI that won the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal two weeks ago, with Marc Guehi coming in for Nathan Ake.

The Manchester City manager is absent from the dugout at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon as he serves the second of his two-game touchline ban as assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders prepares to lead the Blues to a record eighth successive FA Cup semi-final with a victory over his former club.