WITH the exception of a couple of players, Steve Bruce should not play any players he has in his mind for the FA Cup final.
I would field a lot of the youth team for the season finale against Everton, because City cannot afford to pick up any more injuries.
The only exception I would make would be to give Allan McGregor and Paul McShane some game time and prove they should be in the team to play Arsenal in the cup final on Saturday week.
We saw a couple of key players go down injured at Manchester United like Curtis Davies and Ahmed Elmohamady.
They aren't major concerns but it's just not worth the risk.
Sunday's game at the KC Stadium is meaningless with both sides having nothing to play for.
Everton's season has stalled and their chase for a Champions League place is over for another season.
Roberto Martinez's side have fifth place guaranteed unless Tottenham go on a scoring spree to overturn their inferior goal difference, which is 19 worse than Everton's.
I expect to see new faces in the City side, just as Manchester United did against the Tigers on Tuesday night.
It paid off for Ryan Giggs with James Wilson scoring twice in their 3-1 win.
There is no reason to jeopardise any players on Sunday and that means Matty Fryatt will probably miss out again.
But Bruce has told him he is assured of his place against Arsenal at Wembley after scoring a great goal at Old Trafford.
He deserves his place in the FA Cup final team because he has worked his way back from injury and he looked sharp when he came off the bench against United.
Fryatt deserves a new deal for the way he has played and I can see him putting pressure on Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long next season.
He has proved he can score in the Premier League and deserves to extend his stay at the club.
Bruce will start Jelavic and Long on Sunday because they are cup-tied for City's biggest game in their 110-year history. I bet when the pair signed for City they wouldn't expect their new club to reach the FA Cup final.
But they will be involved behind the scenes even though they know they won't be playing on the hallowed turf of Wembley.
It's a very timely boost to have goalkeeper McGregor and defender McShane pushing for selection for the cup final.
The fans would love to see McShane play after an ankle injury threatened to end his season early.
McGregor has done very well to recover from his rib and kidney injury sustained at the end of March at West Ham.
We saw Bruce rest Steve Harper for fear of him getting injured at United, but I think he needs to see his first choice keeper McGregor prove he can play at Wembley.
Maynor Figueroa has come under criticism from some City fans and Bruce has to decide if the full-back should play at Wembley.
He did have a few bad games recently, but I thought he did well against Manchester United. That was his first step back as far as I'm concerned but time is running out for him to persuade Bruce to stick with him.
Tom Huddlestone has been given permission to play in Ledley King's testimonial at White Hart Lane next Monday, six days before the final.
I've no problem with that because it's not going to be played at Premier League level.
The midfielder will go there and show his face and probably just play around 20 minutes before coming off.
Huddlestone isn't the sort of player to go flying into tackles any way, so there's no need for City fans to be worried he's going to pick up an injury.
As for Sunday's result, it really doesn't matter.
If Bruce does give kids a chance, then the important thing for them is to enjoy the game and learn as much as they can against a very good footballing side.
I expect the game to be played at testimonial pace with a great party atmosphere in the stands.
It's a chance for the players to reward the fans for their support and for the fans to reward the players for staying up, getting into the FA Cup final and qualifying for Europe.
