Manchester City face Arsenal in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday evening and Sergio Gomez may have hoped to feature after playing in their third-round win over Chelsea, but Pep Guardiola could overlook the 22-year-old after leaving him out of the matchday squad of late.
Gomez has made 12 appearances in all competitions since joining City over the summer, amassing 580 minutes of playing time. The Spanish U21 international has featured more in the EFL Cup (135 mins) than the Premier League (109) and hasn’t even made the bench in City’s last two top-flight outings, so he’s fallen way down the pecking order.
Gomez hasn’t played a league game since October and was an unused substitute for nine consecutive outings before being left out in mid-January. Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker were on the bench in City’s 4-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur (January 19) and 3-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers (January 22), so there wasn’t room for another fullback.
Gomez’s last outing in any competition was in City’s EFL Cup defeat to Southampton. He played 45 minutes before being hauled off, so time will tell if Guardiola has any faith in him to deliver against the Premier League leaders. Joao Cancelo, Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte can all do a job in the makeshift role, so the 22-year-old may well miss out.
In other news, Pep Guardiola could start Stefan Ortega over Ederson in FA Cup clash
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