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Sports

Pep Guardiola pays tribute to Southampton as Man City scrape into FA Cup final

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4 hours ago

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Pep Guardiola paid tribute to plucky Southampton after Manchester City scraped into a fourth successive FA Cup final with a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory at Wembley.

A slow-burner of a semi-final came alive 11 minutes from time when Finn Azaz put the second-tier Saints on course for a shock win by curling home a sublime goal.

Yet that served only to spark City into action and substitute Jeremy Doku quickly equalised with a deflected strike before Nico Gonzalez won it with an 87th-minute piledriver.

“I never thought it would be easy,” said City boss Guardiola, who made eight changes to the team which won 1-0 at Burnley in midweek

“The energy we had second half with Jeremy and Savinho, for example, and other players, if they start from the beginning they would not have this energy.

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“The first half was not bad. We didn’t concede much. In the second half we played in the level that we played in Burnley.

“Unfortunately we are not clinical enough and you have to wait. A holding midfielder made an outstanding goal.

“How many times in the second half did Southampton cross halfway? One. And what a goal. Football is unpredictable.

“That is why sometimes it is nice and sometimes it is, ‘oh my God’. Big credit to the way they defended and how they played.

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“The team in the second half was really exceptional and created chance after chance. Football is like this. We equalised with a deflection.”

City will face Chelsea or Leeds in the final on May 16 and remain on course for a domestic treble.

Guardiola, whose side slipped back to second place in the Premier League table following Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Newcastle, will not contemplate that prospect until the final game of the season.

The Spaniard has given his players three days off ahead of a trip to Everton a week on Monday.

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“It’s far away,” he said of the treble. “Before the Aston Villa game (on May 24), that night I will tell you if there is a chance. Now it’s far, far away.

“Now it’s important we have three days off for the players. I told them don’t think about football, rest.

“Now we start a season for five games, plus the final of the FA Cup.”

Southampton were briefly dreaming of emulating their 1976 FA Cup win on the 50th anniversary of that triumph.

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The promotion-chasing Saints, who came into the contest on a 20-match unbeaten run, also had a first-half finish from Leo Scienza disallowed due to offside.

Head coach Tonda Eckert said: “Over big parts of the game, (it was an) outstanding performance from the boys.

“In these games you’re not going to have a lot of moments, you know that you always get a couple. We have a very big one in the first half, it’s a very tight decision and then we had a couple in the second half.

“We had a look how they scored their goals this season and there are not too many goals they scored from outside the box so far. Unfortunately, it was two today.

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“I think we’ve done absolutely everything to represent this football club in the best way possible today.

“Obviously we wanted to give the supporters a final here at Wembley. We were very close, so I think it’s quite natural that there is a good sense of disappointment straight after the game.”

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Sports

That’s when you need him

Published

1 minute ago

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26 April 2026

By

Pundit Paul Merson has urged Mikel Arteta to recall Viktor Gyokeres to the starting XI in Arsenal’s Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid. The Gunners will take on Diego Simeone’s side in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday, April 29.

Mikel Arteta’s side managed to secure a scrappy 1-0 win against Newcastle United on Saturday, April 25. While they returned to the top of the Premier League table, they suffered a potentially major blow with Kai Havertz going off with another injury.

With Havertz potentially out for a lengthy period, Paul Merson has urged Arteta to trust Gyokeres up front. The Sweden international was benched in Arsenal‘s 2-1 defeat against Manchester City last week and was again named on the bench against Newcastle United.

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However, Merson believes that Gyokeres could play a key role for the north London giants in their semi-final clash against Atletico Madrid. He said, as quoted by Metro:

“He [Gyokeres] will still play a big part in it [Arsenal’s title run-in]. For me, he plays in Europe on Wednesday night because he will hold the ball up. Arsenal will be under pressure and it will be a difficult game for them in Madrid.”

Merson added:

“That’s when you need Gyokeres to get you a throw in down the touchline, he runs after lost causes. The biggest time the whole crowed lifted today was when he cleared the ball from a corner and chased it down there and won it back and it lifted everybody.”

Expectations were high from Gyokeres when he was snapped up by Arsenal from Sporting CP last summer in a deal worth a reported £64 million. The Sweden international has not quite lived up to them in his debut season, having scored only 18 goals in 48 games across competitions.

Arsenal great Ian Wright sunbs Viktor Gyokeres for Arsenal star who should replace injured Kai Havertz in their starting XI

Ian Wright has claimed Mikel Merino should play up front for Arsenal ahead of Viktor Gyokeres in place of injured Kai Havertz. The former Chelsea star went off with seemingly with a groin injury in the Gunners’ 1-0 win against Newcastle United on Saturday, April 25.

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With Mikel Merino close to returning from a foot injury that has kept him out since January, Wright has urged Arteta to play him up front. The Arsenal legend said:

“Maybe [it will be Gyokeres] but I am hearing Merino is on his way back as well. I don’t know how fit he will be but he is similar to Havertz in the way he can link the play. He is great finisher in the box so fingers crossed he can come back in the next week, two weeks and fill that gap.”

Wright also feared that Havertz could be out for a considerable period, which would be a major blow to the Gunners. He added:

“I’m quite concerned when you consider he has broken down again. You can see how disappointed he is and you can tell when you see someone walking off like that… you can see the difference in Eze walking off and the difference in Havertz walking off. Eze is saying he’s alright and it’s precautionary. But with Havertz, that looks like a lengthy one.”

Havertz has already missed 39 games for club and country thus far this season and has played only 835 minutes of football. He has scored five goals and provided four assists across competitions.