Manchester City look to reach their third consecutive Carabao Cup Final as they meet Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium, in the second leg of their semi-final.
City enter this match with a two goal advantage after winning 3-1 at Old Trafford earlier this month, meaning that at least one goal should be enough to secure their place at Wembley on 1 March against Aston Villa.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesRiyad Mahrez is a doubt for Manchester City after suffering a knock during Sunday’s FA Cup win over Fulham.
Joao Cancelo is also doubtful after taking a knock to his ankle in that game too, whilst Aymeric Laporte (fitness) and Leroy Sane (knee) remain ruled out.
Manchester United could be without Nemanja Matic after he was subbed during Sunday’s six goal FA Cup victory at Tranmere at half-time, with an unspecified injury.
Marcos Rojo (calf), Axel Tuanzebe (hip), Timothy Fosu-Mensah (fitness), Paul Pogba (foot), Scott McTominay (knee) and Marcus Rashford (back) all remain sidelined.
Stat Attack
- Manchester City have won all three previous home League Cup meetings against Manchester United, doing so by a combined aggregate of 8-2.
- Both teams have won one of their last three League Cup meetings by a 3-1 result whilst Man Utd won the other by a 1-0 result in October 2016, of which those three clashes all took place at Old Trafford.
- United have lost just one of their last five trips to City in all competitions (W3, D1, L1), although none of their wins came by two goals margins in that period.
Prediction
Both teams were absolutely clinical in their FA Cup games on Sunday but I suspect that given the margin of victory needed to overturn their deficit, Ole and United are now focusing elsewhere for success this season.
This however should still be a good battle given United’s recent form at the Etihad but Pep Guardiola looks set to start players like Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero, so am going for a City win here.
Prediction: Manchester City 2-1 Manchester United
Result: Manchester City 0-1 Manchester United (Manchester City win 3-2 on aggregate)