Manchester City’s FA Cup final centre-back pairing appears to be an easy choice | OneFootball

Manchester City take on Crystal Palace this Saturday in the FA Cup final at Wembley. The game represents the only chance for Pep Guardiola’s side to claim silverware in a disappointing season. Several question marks surround Pep Guardiola’s starting lineup for the Wembley showpiece. One of those appears to be at centre-back. But on closer inspection, it appears that Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias should start in the heart of City’s defence on Saturday.

Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias’ games complement each other in the Manchester City defence.

Last weekend, Pep Guardiola started Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias at centre-back for Manchester City’s nil-all draw with Southampton. Josko Gvardiol lined up at left-back. As a pairing, Akanji and Dias didn’t do anything wrong. Southampton barely offered an attacking threat throughout the game at the St. Mary’s Stadium. But looking at who should start at centre-back at Wembley, I believe Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias should line up in the heart of City’s defence against Crystal Palace.

Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol have struck up a solid defensive partnership recently. Their games do complement each other, and having Josko Gvardiol at centre-back does help Manchester City’s build-up play. But defensively, I feel their strong points could help Manchester City contain the threat of Crystal Palace. Eberechi Eze, Jean-Phillpe Mateta, and Ismaila Sarr need to be contained for City to prosper at Wembley. The pace of Josko Gvardiol and the tenacity of Ruben Dias could help achieve this goal.

Manchester City’s defence for the FA Cup final appears to be an easy selection.

For me, if Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol start at centre-back, Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly will likely line up in the full-back positions. That has been Manchester City’s best defence over their 10-game unbeaten run. The hope is that is the back four that Pep Guardiola lines up with at Wembley. It covers City defensively and gives them the overlapping full-backs that have been a staple of City’s play in recent weeks. That may be Manchester City’s best path to victory on Saturday, so I expect Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol to line up in the heart of City’s defence against Crystal Palace.