FA Cup quarter-finals team news: Alexander Isak's return? Mohamed Salah to start for Liverpool? Eberechi Eze out?
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Updated 04/04/2026 at 14:43 GMT+1
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A bumper weekend of Emirates FA Cup football awaits on TNT Sports and HBO Max. Here is all the team news for the Premier League clubs battling in Saturday's quarter-finals. Alexander Isak could be fit enough for the bench as Liverpool take on Manchester City, while Chelsea will need a new captain after Enzo Fernandez was dropped by Liam Rosenior. Mikel Arteta was coy on his injured internationals.
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A mammoth quarter-final clash between Manchester City and Liverpool kicks off a bumper Emirates FA Cup weekend on TNT Sports and HBO Max, but who will feature for the two giants of English football?
Man City have the chance to beat Liverpool three times in the same season for the first time, while Mohamed Salah will be hoping he can get his hands on silverware in his final season with The Reds.
The Egyptian looked a doubt for Saturday's last-eight encounter, with coverage on TNT Sports 1 starting from 11:30 UK time, but manager Arne Slot is confident his departing forward is fit enough to start.
"Is [Salah] fit? Yes, he is," said Slot in his pre-match press conference. "He trained yesterday and today. He's available. What has happened since he announced it is what he completely deserves. An unbelievable career at this club, every three days, winning trophies.
"I saw a beautiful picture of him in front of all the trophies he won, so I hope he can add two more before the end of the season."
The Liverpool manager also confirmed that Alexander Isak could be available to feature at the Etihad after recovering from a broken leg, but ruled out the possibility of the Swedish striker starting.
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‘Really happy’ - Slot delighted as Isak returns from 100 day injury layoff
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"We'll be too soon to expect him [Isak] in the starting line-up. It was his first time training yesterday after 101 days out. It will take a bit of time to give him a lot of minutes, but we will make sure we do the right thing to build him up," said Slot.
"But it is a good thing to have him on the training ground, even better to get him on the pitch.
"We don't play a 'normal' game; it could go to extra time, which makes it difficult if he can only play 10 minutes. We can take him off again, of course, if we have the players, but maybe a few minutes tomorrow. But let's wait and see how he feels."
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Slot added that Jeremie Frimpong, after leaving the Netherlands camp early as a precaution, trained with the Liverpool squad in midweek, but brought bad news about the condition of Alisson Becker, who is expected to be out for an extended period.
"[Alisson] will not be part of the PSG game either, out for a bit longer. Towards the end of the season, we expect him to be fit," confirmed Slot.
"Frimpong trained with us and seems to be okay, but he was one of the players I referred to at Brighton. He still has a step to make in terms of [playing] every three days. We don't have eight right full-backs available, but I will find an answer."
Alisson offered an update on his spell on the sidelines, saying that he aims to be back by the end of April.
The Brazil international posted on social media: "I didn't suffer a new injury. I'm in the treatment phase, and the plan is to be in full playing condition by the end of April."
Dias a doubt for Guardiola
The picture is much clearer for Pep Guardiola, who could guide Man City to a record-extending eighth consecutive FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.
Josko Gvardiol remains a long-term absentee, while John Stones is also set to miss the fixture after picking up a minor injury while on England duty.
"It's not ideal for John and not ideal for us, of course," said Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel at a news conference.
"John was gutted that he had this minor incident again. It was not a big injury, just minor, but given the history, we had to be careful. It made no sense to push him through and try stuff to make things even worse."
Guardiola had his say in his Friday press conference, saying: "It's still so difficult for me to understand how it is possible when you are nine months playing for all the titles to go to continents for friendly games. The risk for injuries is massive. It makes no sense."
The only other question mark surrounds another City defender, Ruben Dias, who suffered a hamstring injury in his side's second-leg loss to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.
If the Portugal international is not fit enough to start, Guardiola will likely be forced to start Abdukodir Khusanov and Marc Guehi as his centre-back partnership.
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Guardiola labels Liverpool as 'top contenders' ahead of heavyweight FA Cup battle
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Fernandez dropped for Madrid comments
Chelsea welcome League One strugglers Port Vale to Stamford Bridge for their FA Cup quarter-final, and coach Liam Rosenior dropped shock news on Friday that vice-captain Enzo Fernandez would play no role in the fixture, nor would he feature in The Blues' subsequent Premier League clash against Manchester City.
The decision was taken after Fernandez intimated that he would like to live in the Spanish capital, fuelling rumours that he may soon depart for Real Madrid.
"I spoke with Enzo an hour ago," said Rosneior in his pre-match press conference. "As a football club, and with me as part of that process, we've made a decision: he won't be available for tomorrow's game and he won't be available for Manchester City next Sunday.
"I think a line was crossed in terms of our culture and what we want to build. So we had to make a sanction and that was a decision we've made.
‘Saying that, the door is not closed on Enzo. That's very important. It's a sanction because at this football club, which is a winning football club with traditions of success, you have to protect that culture. I think in terms of that, the line was crossed in the international break."
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'A line was crossed' - Rosenior drops Fernandez over comments on Chelsea future
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Marc Cucurella generated similar headlines with his admission that an offer from Barcelona would be hard to refuse.
But the full-back was not sanctioned by Rosenior, who mentioned the Spaniard's name when asked who would take on the role of captain in place of the injured Reece James and punished Fernandez.
"We've got many leaders," said Rosenior. "Moises Caicedo is in our leadership group. Tosin [Adarabioyo], too. We've got Cole Palmer, we've got Joao Pedro. We've got Marc Cucurella. We've got leaders in the group.
"So I'll make that decision later on today when I name the team and you'll see who's captain tomorrow."
Aside from long-term absentees Levi Colwill, Trevoh Chalobah and Filip Jorgensen, Rosenior can call upon Benoit Badiashile and Jamie Gittens, who have returned after a virus and a leg injury respectively.
Eze out as Gunners sweat on international withdrawals
Arsenal travel to take on Southampton on Saturday evening and saw a raft of first-team stars withdrawn from international duty following their Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City.
As per BBC Sport, out of all Premier League sides, 23 dropped out immediately before or during the break - 11 of which were Arsenal players: William Saliba, Gabriel, Eberechi Eze, Martin Odegaard, Jurrien Timber, Leandro Trossard, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, Martin Zubimendi and Piero Hincapie.
"When you are fit and available to play for the national team, you have to play," Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
"It makes us so proud that we had that many players in the national team. Players are desperate to play for their nation. I know how important it is to them. We are fully supportive of that and when we can do it, we do it."
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Arteta: Arsenal are 'extremely supportive' of players representing national teams
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Eze was ruled out by the Arsenal head coach after the England international suffered a calf injury prior to the break.
And while Arteta allayed fears that Madueke's apparent knee injury was as bad as first thought, he was coy on the rest of his sidelined squad.
"You will see," answered Arteta when asked who was not available after the international break. "I will continue the speculation so you can do it and you can judge it afterwards - if what I say was right or you have to maybe change and delete and write something else."
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