Treble-chasing When Manchester City and Manchester United square off in the FA Cup final on Saturday, they may be nearly at full strength.
The champions' physical condition has been a concern leading up to the Wembley championship game.
For a variety of reasons, Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, and Manuel Akanji were all absent from last weekend's Premier League match at Brentford.
The quartet's training was also limited since City decided against taking any chances before this historic time in the club's history, which will include the Champions League final the following week.
The entire team, according to manager Pep Guardiola, is now appearing healthy and fit.
"They trained well in the last two practices," he remarked. They are all, more or less, satisfactory.
Ederson, the starting goalkeeper for City, will not, however, make the lineup.
Stefan Ortega, who has backed up this entire domestic cup season and has also played in two of the previous three Premier League games, will start at Wembley.
Guardiola added of the German, who has yet to give up a goal in the FA Cup this season, "Stefan is going to play."
"In the FA Cup, I have always behaved that way. The goalie that participated in the FA Cup will participate in the FA Cup (final).
At Wembley, Guardiola is getting ready for a challenging matchup against a United team that will have plenty of motivation.
In addition to the customary cup final and derby reasons, United also wants to stop City from replicating their up to this point singular accomplishment of winning the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League in the same season.
In October, when City was led by Erik ten Hag, they hammered United 6-3, but Guardiola believes they are a far better team now.
"A final is special in and of itself, but what United have been doing in the last four, five, and six months - they are a completely different team from when we faced them here at the beginning of the season," he remarked.
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