FA Cup final LIVE: Man City vs Crystal Palace team news, line-ups and build-up from Wembley – UK Times

And the report from City’s semi-final…

It lacked the imagination or innovation of their Wembley counterparts, but the message from Manchester City supporters as they unfurled their pre-FA Cup semi-final tifo was crystal clear: City are back.

While Nottingham Forest supporters displayed their gothic-Robin Hood imagery, City fans mirrored their idols on the pitch in their clinical approach.

For 45 minutes, their claims had credence. It was not a performance for the ages, but that effortless imperiousness returned to a City side who made it their calling card throughout the Pep Guardiola era of all-out dominance.

The report from Palace’s semi-final win…

Villa meanwhile couldn’t get to that level, as if recent efforts have finally caught up with them. For Palace, this was everything, and you could tell. Eze and Wharton stood out but the collective effort was utterly immense.

When is the FA Cup final?

Kick-off at Wembley is at the unusual time of 4:30pm BST on Saturday 17 May.

Viewers will have a choice of watching on the BBC or ITV.

ITV’s build-up starts at 3pm on ITV 1 and online on ITV X.

BBC’s build-up gets underway from 3:25pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

Man City XI: Ederson; Nunes, Dias, Gvariol, O’Reilly; Silva, Kovacic; Doku, De Bruyne, Marmoush; Haaland

Crystal Palace XI: Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Wharton, Lerma, Mitchell; Sarr, Eze; Mateta

Crystal Palace manager only had “positive” team news to share on Friday and confirmed that midfielder Adam Wharton was fit to play after missing the win against Tottenham last week.

While there has been some optimism that Rodri is close to returning for City after suffering a serious knee injury, the midfielder will not feature in the FA Cup final.

John Stones and Nathan Ake remain out but Erling Haaland returned from injury in last week’s 0-0 at Southampton. Omar Marmoush could return to the starting line-up.

Manchester City and Crystal Palace clash in the FA Cup final at Wembley as the Eagles dream of winning their first major honour.

Palace have been beaten in two FA Cup finals, in the 1990 replay against Manchester United and against the same opposition in 2016 after extra time.

For City, who are far more accustomed to winning silverware under Pep Guardiola, their motivation is salvaging a season that star striker Erling Haaland described as “horrific” this week.

Palace have their own threats and Oliver Glasner’s side will look to England international Eberechi Eze, France striker Jean-Philippe Mateta and midfielder Adam Wharton for inspiration on a potentially historic day.

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of today’s FA Cup final between Crystal Palace and Manchester City.

Palace head into the match looking to win their first ever major honour, while City look to salvage a poor season with a much-needed trophy win.

We’ll have all the latest build-up and updates here.