The Carabao Cup was a competition valued by an all-conquering Manchester City side, but Pep Guardiola has said he will not “waste energy” trying to claim first place. suitable silver available on the English football calendar this season.
The City boss has insisted his ‘second team’ will be used throughout the competition, but it remains to be seen how often we may see a highly rotating Cityzens XI. They have a tough task in the fourth round on Wednesday as they travel to Tottenham.
City overcame their curse at Spurs’ fancy new ground with two wins in the N17 last season, one of which came when large swaths of the home faithful were desperate for an away win to make sure. arsenal he couldn’t lift the Premier League title
The occasion won’t be as big on Wednesday, especially with Guardiola shuffling his pack considerably.
GK: Stefan Ortega – Ortega will start all the matches of the national Cup city this season, and returns to the ground where he stopped Son Heung-min in May to save the title.
RB: Rico Lewis – Kyle Walker is injured, so we should see academy graduate Lewis retain his place in the team at right-back. The youngster could come up against experienced Spurs skipper Son or exciting teenager Mikey Moore.
CB: John Stones – Stones has been one of the goals of late but was named on the bench at the weekend for a comfortable win against Southampton. The Englishman should lead the backline on Wednesday and likely captain the full-back.
CB: Kaden Braithwaite – The 16-year-old impressed during City’s third-round win over Watford and will be the youngest inclusion in the XI for the trip to N17.
LB: Nathan Ake Josko Gvardiol will take no chances with Guardiola now able to call on Ake, who returned from injury last week but was an unused substitute on Saturday. The Dutchman scored City’s first goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in January.
CM: Nico O’Reilly – There is a lot of buzz around 19-year-old O’Reilly and this is a great opportunity for the young midfielder to impress against good opposition.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – The best of Ilkay Gundogan O’Reilly should have an experienced boss by his side in the middle of the park, and there is no better option than Gundogan.
RM: Savinho – Guardiola’s outside options are scarce with Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish nursing injuries, so we should see wily playmaker Savinho remain in the XI.
AM: James McAtee – McAtee has featured sporadically this season, with most of his minutes likely to come in cup competitions. He was on the scoresheet during Man City’s 4-0 thrashing of Slovan Bratislava earlier this month.
LM: Matheus Nunes – The Portuguese midfielder impressed on the left during City’s defeat by Sparta Prague last week and is in what some managers could describe as a ‘good moment’. Nunes will want to continue his midweek mini-surge.
ST: Phil Foden – Erling Haaland will earn some breathing space ahead of Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth, with Guardiola likely to return to an old favorite and use the diminutive playmaker in the more advanced central position. Foden will have the freedom of N17 to influence the proceedings from wherever he wants.
