Guardiola confirms City keeper v Arsenal in final
Pep Guardiola has confirmed that James Trafford will start in goal against Arsenal in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final.Photo by George Wood/Getty ImagesSpeaking in his pre-Cup Final press conference,...
Guardiola confirms City keeper v Arsenal in final Pep Guardiola has confirmed that James Trafford will start in goal against Arsenal in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final. Photo by George Wood/Getty Images Speaking in his pre-Cup Final press conference, Pep Guardiola was asked about who his keeper would be and confirmed it would be Trafford, adding , “For the team it’s a big moment. ” Trafford joined City with the expectation that he would be first choice, but after a few errors in his first game Guardiola signed Gianluigi Donnarumma , who has been their main keeper all season.
Trafford has played 1,080 minutes, not unlike Kepa Arrizabalaga , who is likely to start for Arsenal and who has played only 807 minutes himself. Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images Both managers therefore go into Wembley trusting their understudies rather than their regular league goalkeepers. David Raya may not even be on the bench for Arsenal this weekend, after his wife gave birth to their first child just this week, but it seems unlikely he will want to miss out should Arsenal win the final.
City’s defensive options are less than ideal heading into the match. They are set to be without two centre backs, with Josko Gvardiol still injured and “a long way off a return”, and Marc Guehi ineligible to feature in the competition for City. The good news for City is that Rico Lewis returned to the bench on Tuesday after a five game absence with an ankle injury, though he may not be sufficiently match sharp for a cup final.
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images Another positive from their point of view is that City’s Champions League exit on Tuesday was so poor that it effectively allowed them to rest several key players during the match. Already 3-0 down to Real Madrid from the first leg, City picked up a red card (nice rest for Bernardo Silva ) and went in at half time lucky to be only 4-1 behind on aggregate. With the tie effectively over, Guardiola withdrew Ruben Dias and Tijjani Reijnders at half time.