Rico Lewis feels injuries to some of his Manchester City team-mates have affected his form this season, and is hoping to get more chances to play in midfield in the future.
Lewis opened the scoring as City reached the FA Cup final for the 14th time in their history and the fourth time under Pep Guardiola on Sunday, beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 in the last four at Wembley Stadium.
At the age of 20 years and 157 days, Lewis became the youngest player to score for City at Wembley since Steve MacKenzie in the 1981 FA Cup final versus Tottenham (19 years, 172 days).
But even an FA Cup triumph would not be enough to make City’s season a success, with various injuries to Rodri, John Stones, Ruben Dias and Erling Haaland derailing their Premier League title defence.
Lewis has made 41 appearances for City in all competitions this season, with only Josko Gvardiol (48), Ilkay Gundogan (46), Bernardo Silva (44) and Savinho (42) having more.
The England international has started 32 times – putting him joint-sixth among all City players – and ranks fourth in their squad for minutes played (2,987), scoring twice and providing five assists.
But the disruption in City’s ranks has caused him to become something of a utility player, playing 56% of his minutes at right-back, 17% at left-back, 22% in midfield and 5% on the wing.
“I think it’s difficult. It’s a bit unlucky at certain times of the season where you’re playing in games where you’ve not got everyone on the team,” Lewis said after Sunday’s game.
“You’ve got some people injured so you can’t play as normally as you would do.
“The whole team is discombobulated and stuff like that. It’s part of football. I said this even when it was going well.”
Lewis came through City’s ranks as a full-back, but like fellow youngster Nico O’Reilly, could end up playing further forward.
Asked if he saw his future in midfield, Lewis said: “I want to play there. I enjoy playing in there. I think I can affect the game there. I think that’s the main thing.
“I can do the defensive bit as well. I think the more I do play there, the more I feel comfortable and the more I’ll adapt to the position as well.”
City’s next Premier League game pits them against Wolves on Friday, with matches against Southampton, Bournemouth and Fulham to follow, as well as the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace on May 17.
