Sherwood to assess Given injury ahead of FA Cup final
Tim Sherwood admits Aston Villa goalkeeper Shay Given is a doubt for the FA Cup final due to a groin injury.
Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood has confirmed Brad Guzan will play in the FA Cup final if first-choice goalkeeper Shay Given fails to recover from a groin injury.
Sherwood gave a Premier League debut to Jed Steer in his side's 1-0 home Premier League defeat to Burnley on Sunday, but it will be Guzan who plays against Arsenal at Wembley next weekend unless Given can prove his fitness.
"Shay's a doubt," said Sherwood. "We're assessing him every day, I wouldn't have played him [against Burnley] anyway.
"With the injury to Shay it was an opportunity to look at Jed. You don't often get the chance to look at a young goalie and you can only really assess them on the stage and I thought Jed did all right."
Looking ahead to the Arsenal game next Saturday, Sherwood said: "You wouldn't want to throw Jed in. He's not had much experience in a cup final. If Shay wasn't going to make it and Brad was to get injured we'd have a problem.
"We're not ruling Shay out yet."
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
‘Arteta, Alonso, Emery, me… none of us were physical players – we needed the understanding of the game. That probably helped us move into management’: Premier League boss reveals reasons for natural career progression
‘England have the players to win the World Cup – it’ll be tough for Thomas Tuchel to do a bad job, with the squad he has at his disposal’ Former Three Lions winger backs new boss after gentle qualifying draw