Cup final preview: Man City v Stoke

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Roberto Mancini will wait until Saturday morning before deciding what role captain Carlos Tevez will play in Manchester City’s first FA Cup final for 30 years.

Tevez has been struggling with a hamstring injury and even though he made a substitute appearance in Tuesday’s win over Tottenham, Mancini knows the South American is far from 100% and must choose whether to start with him against Stoke or put him on the bench.

Gareth Barry (hamstring) has recovered, meaning the only absentees will be Kolo Toure, who remains suspended, and Jerome Boateng (knee).

Injured Stoke pair Robert Huth (knee) and Matthew Etherington (hamstring) are due to have fitness tests ahead of the game.

Huth is having sugar injections after coming off in the victory over Arsenal which stretched their run to one defeat in nine games.

Goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen, a regular in cup games, is expected to retain his place but Ricardo Fuller, Danny Higginbotham and Mamady Sidibe are ruled out through injury.

Man City (from): Hart, Given, Taylor, Richards, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov, Boyata, Wright-Phillips, Y Toure, De Jong, Vieira Milner, Barry, Johnson, Silva, Tevez, Dzeko, Balotelli, Jo, McGivern.

Stoke (from): Sorensen, Begovic, Wilkinson, Shotton, Huth, Shawcross, Wilson, Pennant, Whelan, Delap, Etherington, Jones, Walters, Sorensen, Whitehead, Diao, Collins, Faye, Pugh, Carew.