The City boss made 10 changes from the side that beat Manchester United at the weekend for the Carabao Cup clash with Norwich.
A debut double from Floyd Samba, along with goals from Rayan Cherki, another from fellow debutant Allan and a late strike from Academy Graduate Ryan McAidoo secured an emphatic 5-0 victory.
Cherki was the only player to start both games and came off after half-time meaning that much of his first team are well-rested ahead of Sunday’s match against Sunderland at the Etihad at 14:00 (UK).
With a big week that saw us kick off our Champions League campaign with a win away to Porto in Portugal and a hard-fought derby victory that saw us play much of the game with 10 men, Maresca was happy to give some players a break.
“Especially the ones that played 90 minutes back-to-back against Porto and Man Utd,” he said after the win over Norwich.
“So it was important to give them rest and now we can focus on Sunday’s game.
“We’ve played six, we’ve won six and we need to play one more. But the important thing is that we can be focused on the next one and prepare from [today] for the game.”
Watch Enzo’s reflections on the Carabao Cup win in the video above…
