How Man City should line up against Newcastle United in Carabao Cup

Manchester City begin their quest to win back the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.

But it won't be a comfortable easing back into the competition. City will travel to Tyneside to face Premier League rivals Newcastle United.

Pep Guardiola has won the trophy four times since taking charge of City but the Carabao Cup has proven elusive in recent years. Liverpool and Manchester United have won it in the last two seasons with the Blues not lifting the trophy since 2021.

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City will be aiming to change that this season but the manager has admitted he will have to make changes to the starting XI with important games against RB Leipzig and Arsenal on the horizon. One change will be Rodri coming out of the starting XI as he starts his three-game suspension and it's been confirmed Kalvin Phillips will start in his place.

Though Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Kevin De Bruyne remain sidelined, there has been some good news on the injury front with Mateo Kovacic and Jack Grealish set to return to action as well. "He [Kalvin] will start," Guardiola said.

"Jack is much better, Mateo as well, I don't know how many minutes, maybe the second half, but they will play."

Here's how MEN writers would line City up and you can pick your own team in the widget below.

Joe Bray

Pep has confirmed that Kyle Walker will be rested and Ruben Dias also probably will be. Stefan Ortega will surely play as cup goalkeeper, while it seems Grealish and Kovacic will come off the bench. We know Phillips starts, and we also know that Bernardo, Stones and De Bruyne remain out. That doesn't leave too many options.