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Football pundit Mark Lawrenson has predicted that Liverpool will trump Manchester City in the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday. Lawrenson feels that the Reds are favorites to win the match since they have a fresher squad than City.
Guardiola fielded his first-team in City's mid-week clash against Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium. The Reds, in comparison, rested several big stars like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Virgil Van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson for their home clash against Benfica.
The 64-year-old BBC analyst has predicted a 2-1 win for his former side over City on Saturday. The two PL giants went head-to-head last week in the Premier League at the Etihad stadium. The match turned out to be a pulsating affair with the scoreline ending at 2-2. It allowed City to stay at the top of the league table, leading the Reds by just one point.
City traveled to Spain mid-week and were made to work hard to grab an aggregate 1-0 win against Atletico Madrid. Diego Simeone's men came to the Wanda Metropolitano hoping to overturn a 1-0 deficit but the match ended 0-0.
Liverpool hosted Benfica, whom they had beaten 3-1 in the first leg last week. The Reds played out an entertaining 3-3 draw to win the tie 6-4 on aggregate.
Speaking to BBC Sports ahead of the FA Cup semifinals, Lawrensen predicted for Liverpool to beat City this weekend in the cup competition.
''I make Liverpool slight favourites here, because they are fresher. City had to travel to Spain in midweek, they had a gruelling game against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and picked up a couple of injuries while, on the same night, Jurgen Klopp could leave out a lot of his big-hitters against Benfica.''
He added:
''I'm expecting City to make some changes from what is, arguably, their best team but Liverpool to be a strong as they can be - and that swings the tie for me.''
Kevin De Bruyne is set to miss Manchester City’s FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool
Manchester City will be without Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker for their FA Cup semifinals clash against Liverpool. The duo were injured in the match against Atletico Madrid and are unlikely to feature against the Reds. Both players have injured their ankles (The Times).
