Manchester City today begin their quest to recapture the Carabao Cup when they host Championship outfit Watford at the Etihad Stadium. Pep Guardiola has made a habit of winning this competition during his time in English football but has not lifted this particular piece of silverware since 2021.
After two gruelling games against Inter Milan and Arsenal, Guardiola will be looking to rotate. Whatever team he sends out will undoubtedly be favourites but it promises to be an occasion upon which a few of the younger players in his squad can impress. With Rodri reportedly facing a lengthy time out of action, perhaps an understudy will emerge this evening.
Tom Cleverley’s Hornets side are just outside the play-offs in the second tier as things stand but arrive in Manchester having just lost 4-1 to Norwich. Follow all the action with Standard Sport’s dedicated LIVE match blog!
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67 mins: Foden loses the ball and Watford break, but Baah can’t find the target after fashioning some space in the box.
64 mins: Great clearance from Tom Ince on the line as Watford do very well to avoid conceding a third.
Watford then break, but Grealish and Stones get the ball away.
62 mins: Watford have just their second attempt of the game, with Louza dragging his shot wide.
59 mins: Grealish lets out a laugh after Porteous buys a cheap-looking free-kick from the ref.
Will Guardiola make any changes soon? The talent on City’s bench is frightening...
Cleverley goes first though, bringing on Dele-Bashiru and Chakvetadze for Larouci and Bayo.
55 mins: Foden goes through in the box but can’t get a shot off again, before Watford waste their chance to counter.
53 mins: McAtee slides the ball across the box but there isn’t anyone in a light blue shirt to tuck it in.
50 mins: Phil Foden - who has been quiet this evening - comes to life on the edge of the box but can’t convert his strike.
Watford then spring a dangerously-looking break but City get numbers back to snuff out the threat.
48 mins: Savinho gets his first cross in but it is taken comfortably by Watford keeper Jonathan Bond.
46 mins: We are back underway at the Etihad, with Jeremy Doku making way for Savinho.
Pep Guardiola will have told his team to get the third quickly here.
Not too sure what is going on here? Well it looks like Rico Lewis didn’t think Mattheus Nunes smiled enough when celebrating his goal, so he took matters into his own hands.
Nunes has looked a little frustrated this evening so far but he has to be happy with that strike.
Men's Team
Phil Foden makes his first start of the season while Rico Lewis, Nico O’Reilly and James McAtee come into the side along with Braithwaite.
Captain Kyle Walker and Jeremy Doku are the only two in the line-up that started the draw against Arsenal while John Stones comes in following his dramatic late equaliser.
Subs: Ederson, Dias, Kovacic, Gundogan, Bernardo, Gvardiol, Akanji, Savinho, Wright
WATFORD: Bond, Porteous, Ogbonna, Morris, Ebosele, Larouci, Ince, Louza, Sema (C), Bayo, Baah.
Subs: Marriott, Pollock, Chakvetadze, Vata, Dwomoh, Tikvic, Doumbia, Dele-Bashiru, Adu-Poku
He could be in a back-four with Walker, Stones and Braithwaite who is a left-footed defender.
Matheus Nunes is the most senior player in midfield with O’Reilly and McAtee alongside him.
Doku is likely to play on the right and Grealish on the left with Foden possibly as the false nine.
Tonight will be the first time we’ve seen Stefan Ortega Moreno this season following his heroics at the end of his last campaign.
He played in our final match of the season against West Ham as we clinched the Premier League as well as the FA Cup final.
But, of course, he will be the synonymous with that crucial victory at Tottenham Hotspur when he had to replace Ederson who was forced off with an injury after bravely diving at the feet of Cristian Romero to keep the home side scoreless.
With a win needed, Son Heung-Min ran through one-on-one in the dying minutes but was denied by the German keeper.
It was a save that will go down in folklore and he’s sure of a big reception on his return.
Even in a youthful line-up, Braithwaite is still quite a bit younger than his closest team-mate in age.
At 16 years and 229 days, he is the third-youngest player to make their full debut for the Club.
The list is led by Glyn Pardoe who, at 15 years and 314 days, was in City’s starting line-up in August 1961 followed closely by Paul Simpson in 1982.
Hopefully he will go on to have as big an impact at the Club as those two City greats.
You could understand if Watford feared the worst against City when we were paired together in the Carabao Cup.
City have won each of our last 15 matches against the Hornets in all competitions by an aggregate score of 58-8.
In fact, only City ourselves have a longer winning run against a single opponent in English football history, an ongoing run of 16-in-a-row against Fulham.
Cup ties can, of course, be a leveller although Watford have been eliminated from each of their last six domestic cup ties with City.
The most recent of those was the 2019 FA Cup final when we won 6-0, equalling the biggest margin of victory in the showpiece occasion.
Last season’s elimination away to Newcastle was an anomaly for Pep Guardiola as it was the first time he has gone out of the first stage of any competition since taking charge of City.
The last time we had lost in the third round was back in September 2012, when Aston Villa won 4-2 at the Etihad after extra time.
We haven’t suffered back-to-back exits from the competition at this stage or earlier since three straight between 2004/05 and 2006/07.
Meanwhile, Watford have been eliminated from four of their last five third round League Cup ties, last reaching the fourth round in 2019/20.
