Man City are facing an academy dilemma for final games of the season with McAtee and Delap

If everything goes to plan, Manchester City have 18 games left this season. There are ten 'finals' in the Premier League as Pep Guardiola put it this week, with a maximum of eight Champions League and three FA Cup fixtures remaining as the Blues search for a treble.

Guardiola stressed this week that City must approach every game as seriously as a final, with no room for error as Liverpool hunt them down in the league and formidable opponents await in the cups. That means Guardiola needs all of his senior players on the top of their games and to use all of their experience in the run-in.

As it stands, Guardiola has 14 first-teamers available, so is calling upon his academy players to boost the numbers - just as they did against Sporting. When the current absentees return, they will be needed almost instantly to try and bring three trophies home. That means City's brightest youngsters may not be seen again this season.

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In the Sporting game, with a 5-0 safety net to make changes, CJ Egan-Riley, James McAtee and Luke Mbete all played while Liam Delap, Kayky and Sam Edozie were on the bench.

Cole Palmer would have been involved had he not been injured, while Romeo Lavia, Josh Wilson-Esbrand, Finley Burns and Oscar Bobb are among those to have experienced a senior matchday so far this season. It's a testament to City's ever-improving academy that an entire XI of youngsters have been involved in first-team games in 2021/22, plus plenty of experience for fourth-choice keeper Ciaran Slicker.

Guardiola said after the Sporting game that Egan-Riley took his chance which came unexpectedly due to four other defensive absences, while he challenged