Manchester City are expected to field a youthful side as they face Tottenham Hotspur in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.
Manager Pep Guardiola commented after City knocked Watford out with a 2-1 victory in the third round that he would play the “second team” if there was an injury crisis, which appears to be the case at present.
The Blues are plagued with injuries at the moment, with Rodri, Oscar Bobb, Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku and Kyle Walker all currently injured.
James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly will probably start, whilst Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Ruben Dias amongst others should be afforded a rest with many youth players coming into the side.
Here are five things to look out for in City’s cup clash:
O’Reilly staking a claim in defensive midfield
Of all of City’s young players, it’s O’Reilly who will view the Spurs game as an opportunity to thrive the most.
The 19 year old had a fantastic pre-season playing for the first team and has been a part of recent matchday squads due to City’s injuries.
He’s a regular for the EDS when fit and is one of their key players in the middle of the park, whether that be playing as a pivot or even as high up as a number ten.
I expect he’ll play at the base of midfield against Tottenham, with McAtee ahead of him as the most advanced midfielder and perhaps Ilkay Gundogan for some of the game (as he didn’t start against Southampton last weekend.)
A midfield of this trio is far from full strength, but is strong enough for City to give Ange Postecoglou’s side a tricky game even at full strength and will hopefully give O’Reilly the chance to have a Rico Lewis 2022/23-esque season by earning more minutes through his performances.
City’s youth talent vs Tottenham’s youth talent
Both City and their opponents have a promising crop of young players coming through the ranks who could take their opportunity to shine on Wednesday night.
For the Blues, McAtee and O’Reilly have been mentioned already but the likes of Kaden Braithwaite, Josh Wilson-Esbrand, Jacob Wright, Will Dickon and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht cannot be overlooked.
For Spurs, they have numerous young stars in the shape of Lucas Bergvall, Will Lankshear and Archie Gray, but their standout talent is Mikey Moore.
The 17 year old started his first Premier League game in Tottenham’s 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday and shone last week as they beat AZ Alkmaar by the same scoreline in the Europa League.
Moore can play in midfield and all along the frontline, and will no doubt give a headache to whoever he comes up against in the City backline.
But City have players of their own that can cause an inexperienced Spurs side issues, which should make for an entertaining spectacle.
First team players’ minutes managed
The main priority from Guardiola’s point of view will be to get through the game without any injuries, so managing his key players’ minutes will be key.
For the likes of Haaland, Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic, I’d expect them to rest after having played most minutes in the league so far this season and their respective importance to the team.
Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Rico Lewis have played a lot too, but their tendency to avoid injuries and young age for the latter two means there’s a chance they’ll play some minutes.
Gundogan and Nathan Ake should play too having missed out on the Southampton match last weekend, though I expect John Stones will sit this one out due to his previous patchy injury record.
None of the above players will play a full ninety minutes I wouldn’t expect, as Guardiola will be extremely careful with his substitutions in order to minimise injury risk.
Losing this game wouldn’t be ideal but the higher priority will be placed on the league, and I’m sure Guardiola would happily field the EDS if he deemed it the best way of achieving success in the league and in Europe.
Even match between two teams of the same philosophy
City’s likely weakened team should close the gulf of quality between the two teams - which is great for the neutral.
Postecoglou’s bold system is very eye-catching to watch and against a team posing less threat he’ll be more likely to fully utilise his attacking system where both full backs tuck into central attacking midfield positions.
But as mentioned above, a City team mixed with academy players and first teamers is still a force to be reckoned with, and will more than match Tottenham even if they put out a strong lineup.
It should be an equal affair, where both teams look to attack and score goals whilst having frailties that lead them to be fairly weak defensively and from the point of view of an unbiased observer, it should be thoroughly entertaining to watch.
City getting knocked out being for the greater good
As briefly mentioned above, City would have a greater chance of winning the biggest silverware if they lose out at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
Their small squad is currently being stretched due to a severe number of injuries, several of whom are out for the long term.
They’ve lost their most important player (and the Ballon D’Or holder) in Rodri for the rest of the season due to an anterior cruciate ligament tear whilst Kyle Walker and Kevin de Bruyne’s age seems to be counting against them as they struggle to regain their fitness with no dates for their return.
From their opponents’ perspective, Spurs have gone 16 years without winning a trophy and after Postecoglou talked the talk in pre-season about “always winning” in his second season, he’ll likely be putting priority on the cups to prove he can walk the walk.
City’s schedule would be much lighter in the winter without having to contend with the closing stages of the Carabao Cup and emphasis can instead be put on the more prestigious FA Cup instead, which gets underway at the start of January.
And whilst it’s never good to wish, or even predict, defeat on a City side from a fan’s perspective, it seems quite likely to me that Spurs will progress into the next round but it’ll be far from the end of the world.
