How Man City should line up vs Crystal Palace in FA Cup final

Manchester City are in FA Cup final action today as they take on Crystal Palace at Wembley.

City are unbeaten in 10 games heading into the contest and will begin as slight favourites against a dangerous Eagles team. Pep Guardiola has an almost fully-fit squad to choose from although some players have only recently returned to training.

It means the Etihad chief is faced with a couple of selection dilemmas for the showpiece.

Here's how our writers think City should line up this afternoon:

Can you pick Kevin De Bruyne 11 times? No, and you probably shouldn't either if you want to be solid at the back.

As much as it's a sentimental pick, sentiment matters for things like this. All the players will be expecting him to start and it will be an uncomfortable dressing room if Guardiola opts against using the Belgian in his final ever appearance for them at Wembley.

The other factor is that even if De Bruyne isn't what he was (which he isn't), nobody else is in the kind of form that warrants keeping him out. Phil Foden hasn't led the team from that position like he did last year, Jeremy Doku didn't quite do enough to guarantee a start coming off the bench at Southampton and nobody else is really putting their hand up.

I'd start Omar Marmoush with De Bruyne behind Erling Haaland and give Doku the nod ahead of Savinho, with a midfield pair of Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva behind them.

In defence, Nico O'Reilly has to start and Manu Akanji is a better defender than Matheus Nunes. If you want to start your best goalkeeper, unless Ortega is becoming No.1 next season, then Ederson plays.

Simon's team: Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly, Kovacic, Silva, Marmoush, De Bruyne, Doku, Haaland

At the risk of starting a riot, I