Pep Guardiola is expected to make several changes to his starting XI for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash with Chelsea.
The Manchester City manager was, however, giving little away in his pre-match press conference when asked for the latest team news on Tuesday. “We have not decided because we have training this afternoon and we have time until tomorrow night to prepare to win the game, [get] our performance as good as possible,” said Guardiola. “We have sold out the stadium, this is the approach.”
The Catalan has already confirmed that Kalvin Phillips will be back in the squad for the third-round tie but won’t be fit to start, while Guardiola also said Kyle Walker is still missing as he recovers from groin surgery.
There was also a slightly worrying update on Erling Haaland, who returned to the team on Saturday after missing the two matches prior due to a foot injury. Guardiola described the Norwegian’s fitness as ‘not perfect’ and said there is still some ligament damage.
As a result, there’s every chance he won’t start on Wednesday, and may be rested altogether with Saturday’s clash against Brentford in mind. But one player who is definitely missing is Joao Cancelo after he received a straight red card at the weekend in the 2-1 win over Fulham.
Aymeric Laporte, Sergio Gomez and Riyad Mahrez were unused substitutes on Saturday, while Ruben Dias and Phil Foden came off the bench in the second half. All five are therefore likely to start on Wednesday.
Here’s how we think City will line up against Chelsea...
1. Stefan Ortega
Played in City’s last two cup matches and is likely to come in again in place of Ederson.
2. John Stones
Cancelo’s suspension means Stones could continue at right-back, although Manuel Akanji is another option.
3. Ruben Dias
Came on in injury-time on Saturday and therefore should be fresh for the visit of Chelsea.
4. Aymeric Laporte
Similar situation to Dias - didn’t play on Saturday and could come back into the team on Wednesday.