Manchester City welcome reigning champions, Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium in a blockbuster Fourth Round tie in 2022-23 Carabao Cup.
Victory would see Man City reach the Quarter-Finals for the fifth time in six seasons, whilst Liverpool are looking to qualify for the last eight for the third time in four seasons.
Team News
Man City have no fresh injury concerns to report with a near-full squad in contention, including 15 players who have returned safely from participating in the World Cup – with Brazil goalkeeper, Ederson set to start in goal.
Julian Alvarez is City’s only absentee after being granted leave of absence to participate in Argentina’s title celebrations, following their success at the World Cup.
Liverpool will be without Luis Diaz after he suffered a knee injury in training during their mid-season break.
Arthur Melo (thigh) and Diogo Jota (calf) both remain absent.
Alisson, Virgil Van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson are all looking to return, having been away on international duty in recent weeks.
Stat Attack
- Man City have won just one of seven previous League Cup ties against Liverpool excluding penalty shootouts (W1, D3, L3).
- Liverpool have won two of three previous League Cup ties away to Man City (W2, L1), of which both wins were by 1-0 result in January 1981 and January 2012.
- Both teams have scored in three of their last five League Cup ties.
- Man City are unbeaten in five of their last six home ties against Premier League opposition in the League Cup (W5, L1).
- Liverpool have lost three of their last five away ties to top-flight opposition in the League Cup (W2, L3).
Prediction
Despite missing several players in recent weeks, Pep Guardiola will be relieved to have recovered everyone except Alvarez, especially given that City come into this game off the back of just one friendly and surprisingly struggled intensity wise in their last competitive game – a 2-1 defeat to Brentford.
Defending had been Liverpool’s biggest issue across the season so far and those difficulties seem to have continued into their mid-season break judging by their friendly results, despite only missing six players so it will be interesting to see if any of those absent players return here.
Goals therefore surely have to be a decent bet but Liverpool were in a similar rut when they went on to beat City in their league clash at Anfield in October, so I don’t expect this to be easy but if City can quickly rediscover their spark then they should win this.
Prediction: Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool
Result: Manchester City 3-2 Liverpool