admin Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admits he could field a mixed team in Wednesday’s League Cup tie with Newcastle United.
The reigning Premier League champions travel to St James’ Park to face the Magpies in what has been the perfect start to their title defence, having won all six of their league matches at the start of their campaign new translation.
However, the Cityzens have endured an injury-plagued start to the 2023/24 season, with Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and John Stones succumbing to fitness problems.
Rodri will miss tomorrow’s match on Tyneside due to suspension, as Jack Grealish and Mateo Kovacic prepare to return to action after recovering from minor injuries.
As the match schedule becomes increasingly dense due to Man City having to participate in many tournaments, Guardiola must pay close attention to squad rotation to avoid further problems in the future.
Speaking to the press ahead of tomorrow’s match against Newcastle, the Spanish coach admitted he could make various changes to the squad that beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 at the weekend.
“At the beginning of the season there are always six players who don’t play regularly and the Carabao Cup is perfect,” Guardiola told the Daily Mail.
“That was when everyone was healthy. But now it’s a special situation, we have a lot of players injured or having to play a lot of minutes. They must rest.Wolves, Leipzig and Arsenal are much more important.
“We will go there to win the game but I have to think a lot about effort in this period and they will get injured again otherwise we will be in trouble.”
Man City and Newcastle faced off in the Premier League earlier this season. Julian Alvarez’s first-half masterpiece inspired Guardiola’s side to a 1-0 win at the Etihad Stadium in August.
But things could turn out differently on Wednesday, with Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias among the first team stars will get a well-deserved rest.
On the other hand, Newcastle is expected to come out in high spirits after their historic 8-0 victory over newcomers Sheffield United on Sunday.
