The Prophet

This has all come from that Little Mans account on Twitter. He's not particularly reliable, so I wouldn't panic yet.

The game is going to be won and lost in the middle of the park. If we're not sharp and don't close down passing lanes, it's not going to matter whether it's Hall, Tino or Isak at left back, their front three will run riot. We can't give them the respect we did at Anfield.

Man United 1-2 Man City Leicester 1-0 Chelsea Wigan 1-0 Man City Daft things can happen in cup finals against the odds. Sure Liverpool are short favourites, but we still have some very good players who can hurt them. If we can't get up for it, we might as well pack in.

Gutted for him.

Nah, this is a huge game. First off we need to reverse the momentum and poor form. Second, it's a winnable game in our chase for European spots.

Yeah, that's bang on. I was going to say he's probably between a C and B, but closer to a C.

Nah, we need to go full strength.

Still looking forward to it. Losing Botman and Hall is obviously a blow and will require us to play an out of sorts Schar and Trippier. Both are experienced heads, but will need to cut out the silly errors for us to stand a chance. I'm less concerned about Gordon given Joelinton and Barnes are both more than adequate cover. Providing there are no more absentees it's still a decent side. I just hope that we beat West Ham to shift the momentum and form a little bit. I still think Liverpool may prove too strong for us, but there's been bigger upsets in cup finals down the years. If we're on it, there's still a chance to break the trophy drought.

The Tweet in question was someone trying to be funny. It's an absolute knee-slapper.

Full pre-season under his belt and he'll be reet.

Now that one is a wind-up

A couple of the Twitter ITKs who are usually decent with team news are saying that he'll miss the final.

I guess the back four picks itself then.

It's pretty common for players recovering from ACL injuries to pick up other injuries during recovery.

I just hope the team have a bit more mental resilience than the fans. We're in trouble if they don't.

Surely it has to be Tino up against Salah? He's a very good one on one defender and doesn't always require cover. It might even allow us to play Barnes, without worrying too much without his defensive contribution.

I'd go... Dubravka Trippier Botman Burn Tino Bruno Tonali Joelinton Murphy Isak Barnes

This is where I'm at.

Feel sorry for the lad, he's had a fantastic breakout season. Small mercies, but thankfully it's a position we have relatively good cover in. We can stick Burn out there v a low block or Tino csn move over against the faster wingers.

Wish it was this weekend.

That's one very specific part of a much larger picture. I do believe Villa are ahead of us on their trajectory, curtesy of starting from a more solid platform, but it's a similar trajectory all the same.

Shame for the lad. Has to be Tino at LB for the rest of the season.