How Man City should line up vs Southampton in FA Cup

Manchester City have just one player missing for the FA Cup quarter-final at Southampton on Sunday.

Ruben Dias remains out, with Pep Guardiola saying that the defender needs more time to recover from a hamstring injury rather than rushing him back and risking a longer-term lay-off. That will leave John Stones, Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake to compete for the centre-back spots at St Mary's.

Guardiola is likely to play Zack Steffen in goal, while other fringe players including Ake, Fernandinho, Aleks Zinchenko and Cole Palmer may hope to feature. City didn't make any substitutions in the draw at Crystal Palace, so the likes of Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Ilkay Gundogan should be fully fresh.

ALSO READ: Man City doctors warn Pep Guardiola over Ruben Dias injury return

Read how our writers think City should line up below and use the interactive widget to pick your own City starting XI:

Stuart Brennan

With no club game for a fortnight, Guardiola can afford to field his strongest team at Southampton - and it might be a good tactic in any case, to shake off the disappointment of drawing a blank at Crystal Palace on Monday night. Maybe it would be worth a tactical tweak, however, giving Phil Foden a run on the left after his almost anonymous display at Selhurst Park.

Jack Grealish has looked much better in central positions lately and he could have a pop at the false nine role, despite being unconvincing in it so far. Maybe the only exception to the strongest XI would be to rest Riyad Mahrez, who has played a lot of games - and that would allow the unlucky Jesus a chance to ease himself back in.

The rest of the team picks itself, with the midfield trio of Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Rodri almost undoubted. And