Manchester City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers. Carabao Cup Fourth Round.
Etihad StadiumAttendance50,755.
Manchester City win 4-1 on penalties.
Tuesday 24 October 2017 13:01, UK
Pep Guardiola could make 11 changes to his Man City side when they host Wolves in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Tuesday (kick-off 8pm).
The hosts are flying high, having won each of their last 11 matches in all competitions and setting a new club record in the process.
But Guardiola has confirmed that there will be wholesale changes ahead of the last-16 tie, saying: "On Tuesday, we will play 11 new players.
"There are a lot of games and maybe there are players now who play more regularly than other ones - but in February and March that isn't going to happen. Everybody will be involved as you can't play the same players in every game in all competitions."
It will be a top of the table head to head with Wolves currently leading the Sky Bet Championship by two points, but forward Leo Bonatini says they are not scared of the Premier League side.
"It will be a tough game for us and for them as well. We will go there and try to play our football," he told the Express & Star.
"It doesn't matter who we play against, we need to respect them and that respect means we need to play and if we get a chance to score we score and we will try to do our best.
"We don't need to scared of them. It's just football, it's 11 against 11, we know what we can do."
Guardiola is expected to make a raft of changes although Sergio Aguero may keep his starting place.
Aguero returned to action against Burnley on Saturday just over three weeks on from breaking his rib in a car crash, netting the opener in the 3-0 win to equal City's all-time goalscoring record.
It is anticipated that Claudio Bravo, Danilo, Eliaquim Mangala, Ilkay Gundogan and Yaya Toure will come into the side, and there could also be involvement for 20-year-olds Oleksandr Zinchenko and Tosin Adarabioyo.
It remains unclear when Vincent Kompany might return from his latest injury.
Nuno has rotated in the Carabao Cup this season and goalkeeper Will Norris should start after playing in the previous three rounds. Defender Willy Boly could also start after returning from injury.
Manchester City are unbeaten in their last five home games in all competitions against Wolves (W4 D1), winning each of the last three at the Etihad.
This will be the fifth meeting between these two sides in the league cup, with the second occasion being the 1974 cup final - John Richards scoring a 85th minute winner to secure the trophy for Wolves.
The last encounter between the clubs was in October 2011 at this exact stage - Man City winning 5-2 at Molineux thanks in part to an Edin Dzeko double.
The Citizens have reached the quarter-final stage in each of the last five even seasons (08, 10, 12, 14, 16), failing to progress in each of the odd seasons since 2008.
Wolves have only advanced to the quarter-finals on one occasion as a tier two side or lower - beating a top-flight Coventry side 2-1 in 1995-96.
Man City have progressed from each of their last seven league cup games against lower league opposition, scoring a whopping 28 goals.
There's definitely going to be a few changes for City but the players coming in are pretty good too! Ilkay Gundogan, Yaya Toure, maybe minutes for Sergio Aguero, if not then Gabriel Jesus, and Raheem Sterling. Wow.
I watched them on Saturday and they weren't all guns blazing. This Wolves team is organised and might be able to hold on for half-an-hour but this is another one where I can only see one outcome.
Charlie predicts: 4-1 and Raheem Sterling to score first (22/1 with Sky Bet)
