Pep Guardiola has suggested he might play a team of youngsters in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash with Tottenham Hotspur, which is sure to excite the North London club.
Manchester City picked up another narrow Premier League victory on Saturday afternoon as they edged past a spirited Southampton 1-0.
Erling Haaland grabbed the deciding strike after just five minutes when he turned in Matheus Nunes’ cross while getting dragged down to the floor.
The fixtures are now coming thick and fast and Pep Guardiola’s side will once again be in action in mid-week as they take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
City will want to reclaim the trophy they haven’t won since 2021 but Guardiola has hinted he could be forced to play a team comprised of youngsters in order to rest his squad.
The manager has only been able to name seven players on the bench in recent games, with two of them goalkeepers, as injuries have begun to mount up.
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City are currently without six important players as the injury bug has already bitten at this early stage of the campaign.
Rodri and Oscar Bobb are long-term casualties while Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and Jeremy Doku are all nursing less serious injuries.
However, Guardiola doesn’t think any of the quartet will be back in time to face Spurs.
When asked by BBC MOTD if he expects any of his injured stars to be available on Wednesday, the manager replied: “I don’t think so.
“We will see what happens. In this calendar, the Carabao Cup is just to play with the young players.
“We will see if we play with academy players or see how they come back fresh from that.”
Could Guardiola sacrifice the Carabao Cup?
James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly are first-team regulars at this point, despite their tender years, and will almost certainly come in to start against Tottenham.
That wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, so Guardiola hinting more academy prospects could be involved suggests he is willing to sacrifice the Carabao Cup in order to reduce the burden on his senior players.
There almost certainly will be some experience in the team with the likes of Nathan Ake, Stefan Ortega and Ilkay Gundogan playing at the very least but there could be several more youngsters alongside them.
The prospect of a young and untested opposition could be a big confidence boost for Tottenham, who have already enjoyed plenty of success at home against City.
Spurs haven’t won a trophy since 2008 and might have been given a golden opportunity to beat City and go a step closer to ending their barren run.
