Pep Guardiola: Manchester City won't 'waste energy' on Carabao Cup

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admits he does not want to "waste energy" in the Carabao Cup.

City claimed their place in the fourth round with a largely comfortable 2-1 win over Watford at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

Guardiola made nine changes for the tie, which came just two days after Sunday's controversial and draining clash with Arsenal, and he admits the competition is well down his list of priorities.

He said: "I would say the next round, we are going to play the players at the last minute or play the second team.

"We’re not going to waste energy for this competition for sure. I don’t know what’s going to happen.

"If I have a lot of injuries, I’m going to play the second team, but we will have all the squad ready and it’s a good competition (for some players) to take the rhythm, that’s for sure."

We need your consent to load this YouTube content We use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences

First-half goals from Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes ultimately proved enough for City, who dominated throughout and created a plethora of chances, to see off the Championship Hornets.

Tom Ince did give the visitors late hope with a fine strike in the 86th minute but it proved only consolation.

Watford boss Tom Cleverley was frustrated to concede the opener to Doku after just five minutes but felt his side gave a good account of themselves thereafter.

He said: "As a coach, there’s not much you can do about giving the ball away in such an easy circumstance, and you fear the worst after that.

"But it’s not something that I want to focus on. The objective was to be more resilient and,