Manchester City Football Club will be holding a media conference in the media zone at the City Football Academy campus with manager Pep Guardiola tomorrow, ahead of the League Cup trip to Oxford United on Wednesday night. We’ll be back with video and quotes from that session on Tuesday, with the latest team news updates, but for now here’s the preview of the mid-week quarterfinal clash.
In looking at the team news and fitness situation for City, David Silva, John Stones and Sergio Aguero all missed the 3-0 win at Arsenal yesterday and won’t be risked in this one. So all three are out of commission, as are the Sky Blues two long term injury absentees, Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte.
Guardiola will most certainly start mostly reserves and younger players in this one, giving his stars and more senior guys a rest ahead of the next weekend Premier League fixture. The last time these two sides met, it was in this very same competition, last year, in the third round.
Phil Foden was involved on all three goals (assisting on two, scoring one) in a 3-0 victory at Oxford. Look for him to go the full 90 in this one.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction: Bravo; Walker, Garcia, Otamendi, Angelino; Fernandinho, Foden; Mahrez, Bernabe, Sterling; Jesus
Manchester City FC at Oxford United League Cup Quarterfinal FYIs
Kickoff: Wed. Dec 18, 745, The Kassam Stadium
Referee: Andrew Madley
Form Guide: Manchester City- WWLWDD Oxford United- LDDWWW
TV: no live coverage
Odds via Sky Bet: Manchester City win 1/8, Draw 8/1, Oxford United win 1/8
Prediction: Manchester City 4, Oxford United 0
While City will field a largely junior varsity side here, they’re still the world’s richest and most powerful club and they’re facing a side from the third tier of English football. In other words, it’s not difficult to predict how this match will go.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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