• FA Cup fourth round: Crystal Palace v Manchester City, Saturday at 7pm
Pep Guardiola is considering recalling Vincent Kompany for an FA Cup tie he believes is a final for Manchester City.
The Catalan has won at least one trophy in each of his seven previous seasons of top-flight management and takes his team to Crystal Palace for a match that could deal a major blow to his hopes of bringing silverware to the Etihad Stadium.
Club captain Kompany has not featured in City’s last 13 games since injuring his knee in a collision with a collision with goalkeeper Claudio Bravo in their last visit to Selhurst Park, a 2-1 win in November.
But he was an unused replacement in last week’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham and Guardiola could bring him back in a bid to shore up a defence that has only kept three clean sheets in their last 15 matches.
“He is fit and he is ready,” said Guardiola. “He was on the bench in the last game and when they are on the bench, it is because they can start.”
The City manager is weighing up whether to give Brazilian teenager Gabriel Jesus a first start after his promising cameo against Tottenham, when he had a goal disallowed.
The January signing from Palmeiras is acclimatising to life at a new club and in a different country. “He is already three weeks with us so we are going to see,” added Guardiola.
Yet the Brazilian’s arrival has increased the competition for places in City’s forward line and Nolito, who began the campaign brightly and has scored six times, has not begun any of their last five matches, failing to even make the bench for the defeats to Liverpool and Everton.
“We have seven strikers,” Guardiola explained. “It is a lot and he play in the beginning a lot. I rotate but I try to involve everybody and what I decide depends on what I see from the opponents, from the training sessions and what I see in the previous games.”
Whereas many managers field weakened teams in the FA Cup, Guardiola selected a strong side for the 5-0 thrashing of West Ham in the third round.
He has only confirmed that one understudy will start with Willy Caballero, who came in for Bravo at the London Stadium, retaining his place in this competition.
City have already won once at Selhurst Park this season, when Yaya Toure scored a brace on his unexpected return to the team, but Guardiola remembers how difficult that occasion was.
“It was a real tough game,” he said. “It was one of the worst we played this season but we won and when that happens everything is perfect but we didn’t play good.
“We imagine a tough game in the FA Cup. Every game is complicated. It will be tough for the stadium, for the situation of Crystal Palace, because it is away. We want to go through and of course it is a final for us.”
Guardiola’s managerial career has already yielded 21 titles and he added: “Winning titles of course is important.”
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