Why Ruben Dias isn’t in Man City squad vs Arsenal as Carabao Cup final teams announced

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been deprived of another centre-back before the League Cup final with Arsenal.

Manchester City suffered an injury blow ahead of the Carabao Cup final with Ruben Dias ruled out of the game with a hamstring injury. The centre-back only lasted 45 minutes against Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek and was not named in the squad for Sunday’s game with Arsenal.

That left Pep Guardiola without two of his best centre-backs, given Marc Guehi is ineligible due to an obscure rule that disqualifies him on the basis of not having joined from Crystal Palace before the first leg of City’s semi-final with Newcastle. The January signing will be forced to sit out the game while Antoine Semenyo can play after his move from Bournemouth.

Without Guehi and Dias, Guardiola has plumped for Uzbek international Abdukodir Khusanov and Dutch veteran Nathan Ake in his defence alongside Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly. John Stones could also have featured but is only on the bench, having missed the West Ham game last week with injury before returning to the squad against Real.

Get MEN Premium now for just £1 HERE – or get involved in our City WhatsApp group by clicking HERE. You can also join our City Facebook page by clicking HERE and don’t miss out on our brilliant selection of newsletters HERE.

James Trafford starts in goal despite Gianluigi Donnarumma being the City No.1. Guardiola has almost always allowed his No.2 goalkeepers to keep their places in domestic cup competitions, even when the Blues reach finals, with Claudio Bravo, Zack Steffen and Stefan Ortega all featuring at Wembley previously.

Mikel Arteta has adopted the same approach at Arsenal, with Kepa Arrizabalaga starting for them on Sunday ahead of No.1 David Raya. Kepa started against City for Chelsea in the 2019 League Cup final and refused to come off before the penalty shootout and then ended up on the losing side.

Arsenal are favourites for Sunday’s game as they look to clinch the first leg of what could be an historic Quadruple this season, but City are still gunning for three domestic trophies as Guardiola aims to add another trophy to his collection and become the most successful manager in the history of the League Cup.