Man City lineup vs. Nottingham Forest: Predicted XI for FA Cup semi-final as James McAtee misses out

Manchester City midfielder James McAtee will watch on from the sidelines when the Citizens clash with Nottingham Forest in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

The England youth international was cautioned for the second time in the competition during the quarter-final triumph at Bournemouth last month and must therefore serve a one-game ban this weekend.

McAtee's punishment is particularly untimely for the playmaker, who is now finally starting to prove his worth to Pep Guardiola, but he is now set to be one of seven Sky Blues absentees at Wembley.

Erling Haaland (ankle), Rodri (ACL), Nathan Ake (ankle) and John Stones (thigh) will not be back just yet, while Oscar Bobb is reported to have suffered another setback and will miss out too.

Mcatee was given the nod to start Tuesday's 2-1 Premier League success over Aston Villa, although he was replaced in the second half by Jeremy Doku, who went on to assist Matheus Nunes's last-gasp winner.

Doku should therefore be first in line for McAtee's spot in the attack, where Omar Marmoush and departing captain Kevin De Bruyne should also operate, the latter starting through the middle.

Guardiola may also see no need to alter the Bernardo Silva, Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan midfield trio, and the same can be said of a settled backline, even though Manuel Akanji has now recovered from an abductor concern.

The Swiss defender should be given more time to get back up to speed as Stefan Ortega, Nunes, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and the exciting Nico O'Reilly - who has three goals and two assists from four FA Cup games this season - link arms again, unless Ederson (groin) makes an unexpected return to displace the former.

Manchester City possible starting lineup: Ortega; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly; Silva, Kovacic, Gundogan; Doku, De Bruyne, Marmoush

> Click here to see how Nottingham Forest could line up for the semi-final