PREDICTED LINEUP - MANCHESTER CITY VS MANCHESTER UNITED - GREALISH AND DIAS BACK IN THE SIDE

Image courtesy of tsn.ca

Manchester City take on local rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium, in arguably the biggest Manchester Derby of all time.

It is the first time the two clubs have ever met in an FA Cup final, but, in 2011, they did meet in the FA Cup semi final, with a Yaya Toure goal meaning it was the Blue side of Manchester that travelled home happily, in a match where United were the favourites to progress to the final.

This time around, under the leadership of Pep Guardiola and Erik ten Hag, the tables have completely turned, with City the overwhelming favourites heading to lift the trophy at the end of this match.

A huge fitness boost for the Blues saw the return of Manuel Akanji, Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Ruben Dias to training. These 4 players are all in contention to start the final and, if they do, they'll play a huge part in City's potential success.

In the two previous Premier League meetings this season, City won 6-3 at the Etihad Stadium, thanks to hattricks from Phil Foden and Erling Haaland. However, they lost 2-1 at Old Trafford, with a controversial VAR decision for United's first goal - one that the PGMOL admitted they got wrong - the main talking point of the match.

As reported in The Athletic, there are many City fans - mostly those who supported the club when we were in the third division - that would rather win the match later today than next week's UEFA Champions League final against Inter Milan, however, I must say I disagree.

As galling and humiliating it would be to lose the first - and possibly last - FA Cup final against United, Champions League glory would just take all that pain away if City were to be victorious in Istanbul.

City are a club that are big enough on the world stage now that Manchester United's failure shouldn't be seen as a Manchester City's success. Undeniably, the FA Cup is a trophy that City will want to win, and beating United just makes it taste even sweeter.

But the Champions League is a more prestigious trophy, no-one can deny that, no matter who City are playing. I think City are perfectly capable of winning both cup finals, but, if I had to pick one, the Champions League would come first any day.

This is United's final game of the season, so they have nothing to lose. Ten Hag's side also have the motivation of stopping City from winning the treble, something that will add extra spice to the game.

But City will dominate possession, and limit fast United counter attacks through controlling the game. If City are on the ball from the off, and don't play the match with one eye on Istanbul, then they're perfectly capable of getting the job done here and next week.

Here is the predicted lineup for the 142nd FA Cup Final: Guardiola had already confirmed that Stefan Ortega-Moreno will start in goal, so that makes that element of our predicted lineup slightly easier!

The back 4 will be a difficult decision for Guardiola, however, with 5 players all playing out of their skin in recent weeks. After much deliberation, I think we will see Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake as the back 4 from right to left, with Manuel Akanji very unfortunate to miss out. It'll be 29 year old Stones who provides the extra option dropping into midfield from defence.

Centre midfield is probably the easiest position to predict. Rodri will undisputedly start at the base of midfield, and I'd be somewhat surprised if we don't see Kevin de Bruyne start as the right sided 8 and club captain Ilkay Gundogan as the left sided 8.

Right wing is probably the most tightly contested spot in the team. It could be any one of 3 immensely talented players, but, due to his UEFA Champions League performances this season, I think Bernardo Silva will start there. Presuming he is fit, he'll be partnered on the other side by Jack Grealish, who has been an almost undisputed starter since the World Cup.

Up front, Erling Haaland is bound to start against the side who he scored one of his six hattricks against earlier this season. By his standards, he's on a bit of a barren run in front of goal, so he'll be determined to bang one past David de Gea later today.

This means the City bench will consist of Ederson, Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji, Aymeric Laporte, Sergio Gomez, Kalvin Phillips, Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez.

CMON CITY!!!