Pep Guardiola promises changes to Man City line-up for visit of Brentford in cup

Pep Guardiola promised changes to his Manchester City line-up for the visit of Brentford in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final.

The game at the Etihad Stadium comes just 72 hours after City were made to battle for a hard-fought 3-0 win away against Crystal Palace to maintain their Premier League pursuit of Arsenal.

Guardiola’s side, who also beat Real Madrid 2-1 in the Bernabeu last week, face five league matches between December 20 and January 7, and with the title race likely to intensify in the new year, the visit of the Bees is seen as a moment for rest and rotation.

There is also the matter of the Africa Cup of Nations, with Rayan Ait-Nouri and Omar Marmoush set to depart to represent Algeria and Egypt respectively.

“We’ve lost now Rayan and Omar,” said Guardiola. “We have some injuries, like John (Stones) and Jeremy (Doku). We will see. It’s one step to get to the semi-finals.

“Now we have less recovery, three days not four. The players that didn’t play recently are going to play.

“Some from the academy will play, because then we play West Ham (in the league on Saturday). I’m not saying it’s not a priority getting to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, but normally when we achieve it it’s when we have all the squad, no injuries, we can rotate the team.”

City won the Carabao Cup four years in a row under Guardiola between 2018 and 2021 but have not reached the final since.

Despite having his hands full in the title race and in Europe, he insisted he was not taking his eye off Wednesday’s game.

“If you’re one game away from a semi-final, if you can take it, take it,” he said. “You never know when it’s coming back to you.”

The #CarabaoCup Quarter-Final schedule has now been confirmed