Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hoodoo is finally over
After so much misery in this stadium, City have actually won their last two here without conceding a goal. Both games were significant last season and the heroes from both - Nathan Ake in the FA Cup and Stefan Ortega in the league - will likely start this evening.
For all the pain City have endured in this stadium, not too many in the team tonight will bear too many scars.
City's record at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium now reads:
Played - 7
Lost - 5
Won - 2
Scored - 3
Conceded - 7
Spurs need the win - and a cup - more than ever
There is no question over which team most needs a win tonight.
The Carabao Cup is at the bottom of City’s priority list at the best of times and with their injury list there is little enthusiasm for the game. When even Guardiola is announcing pre-match he has one eye on Bournemouth on Saturday you know things are strained.
Things are strained at Spurs, but that is more down to the patience for Ange Postecoglou wearing thin for some Spurs fans with them desperate to end their trophy drought and show progress.
A limp defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday has only sharpened the knives for the manager tonight and there can’t be many better opportunities to beat City.
Why did Guardiola change his mind on the academy?
Guardiola appears to have done his usual trick of saying he will play the kids and then remembering that the ones most capable of stepping up were bought by other first teams in the summer. It is a big night for James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly and there will be a sprinkling of youngsters in the squad but there will still be plenty of experienced faces in the team tonight.
Which academy players could feature - if any?
So Pep Guardiola won't commit to playing a team full of academy players, but we can probably assume that Nico O'Reilly and James McAtee will start, or at least play a significant part.
Both started the last round and are full-time members of the first team squad.
Then there is Jacob Wright, with three senior appearances already and a cameo off the bench against Watford. He turned down a loan move away this summer after Guardiola said he wanted him around the first team.
Finally, we could see two possible debutants in Jahmai Simpson-Pusey and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht who were missing from the under-21s' EFL Trophy fixture last night along with O'Reilly and Wright. They have both featured in training recently and could be in the squad to boost numbers.
Centre-back Simpson-Pusey started two games on tour in the summer, while winger Alfa-Ruprecht has begun the season on fire for the EDS with a host of goals and assists.
O'Reilly, Wright, Simpson-Pusey and Alfa-Ruprecht were pictured leaving the CFA with the first team earlier today so will be included in the squad.
Pep's backtracking on academy call-ups
After City beat Watford in the last round - when 16-year-old Kaden Braithwaite was handed a surprise debut - Guardiola said he would play the second team in this fixture as the Carabao Cup was not the priority.
He backed that up on Saturday when he insisted the most important game this week is Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday... but then rolled back his academy promise in yesterday's press conference.
He said:
"There is some [academy players] but we play against Spurs, they're coming from defeat and I know what it is mentally for managers and players playing against City - the last four Premier League in a row winners. I know they will be the best.
"We also won the Carabao Cup four in a row and I always used the first rounds to play guys who didn't play regularly and when we arrived in the semi-finals we thought we were going to win it. Now we have a problem that we have a lot of injured players and I cannot rotate like I would and I don't want to put much pressure on the young players on this stage for this opponents for the way I play so that's why I have to make a mix for the players, split minutes with 45 minutes-45 minutes.
What time is kick-off?
Kick-off is at the later time of 8:15pm this evening. It is the only game kicking off at that time, with Brighton vs Liverpool starting at 7:30pm and the other four matches this evening getting under way at 7:45pm.