It’s been a long wait since our last competitive match and with players returning from Qatar at different periods, both Manchester City and Liverpool will have to put together a patchwork squad for the Carabao Cup match.
The Manchester Evening News reported that Pep Guardiola will be without up to 11 players for the match: “Still to return are Ederson, Laporte, Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, winner Julian Alvarez, and England players Kyle Walker, John Stones , Kalvin Phillips, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish’.
Jurgen Klopp will also be without several members of his squad who have not returned to training yet, as only Darwin Núñez was eliminated in the group stage and therefore should be the only one who participated in the World Cup and could play this tie.
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Both managers will have the option of trying to get playing time for those who have been out of action for more than a month, but they will also be aware of the hectic game schedule ahead and may choose to rest individuals more due to the what is to come
It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of starting line-ups both teams select and there should be reason for optimism for the Reds, if we can make it through to the next round we would be in a strong position to retain the trophy.
This is likely to be used as a final friendly before the Premier League restarts, but let’s hope we see an entertaining game that ends with a place booked for the quarter-finals.
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