Manchester City will clash heads with Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday night hoping to win and book a place in the final of the Carabao Cup. Pep Guardiola’s men put in a masterclass of a performance in the 3-1 victory away at Chelsea last weekend, which will give them a lot of momentum heading into this upcoming showdown at the Theatre of Dreams.
Pep Guardiola will probably set his team up in a 4-2-3-1 formation and is expected to name Benjamin Mendy, Riyad Mahrez and Sergio Aguero is his starting XI at the expense of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva.
4-2-3-1 Manchester City Predicted Lineup To Face Manchester United
Defence
Zack Steffen will continue in between the sticks for Man City after he failed to keep a clean sheet versus the Blues in his last outing. Ruben Dias will operate as a centre-back alongside John Stones as they look to neutralise the threat of Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford during the 90 minutes.
Joao Cancelo should continue to function at right-back while Benjamin Mendy returns to fill in on the other flank as the left-back. Guardiola will give both of them the license to get forward and create some decent chances for their teammates up top.
Midfield
Fernandinho and Rodri will assume the duties of the holding midfielders and will focus on keeping the ball moving at the centre of the park. They will also have to find a way to stop the Man United attackers from creating too many chances on the counter.
The gifted trio of Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez will play just ahead of them as part of Guardiola’s attack. De Bruyne managed to get his name on the scoresheet last weekend, which will keep him in high spirits going into this contest at the Theatre of Dreams.
Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden will drop to the bench as they await their chance to shine as the impact substitutes if Guardiola decides to call upon their services.
Attack
Sergio Aguero will lead the line for the Mancunian giants in the final third. The Argentine striker came on as a substitute versus Chelsea but was unable to find the back of the net. This cup game could be the perfect opportunity to return to goal-scoring ways in the absence of Gabriel Jesus and Ferran Torres.
