The City boss wants to keep his squad fresh but rotation is difficult with Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne likely to be unavailable for the fourth-round tie along with long-term absentees Rodri and Oscar Bobb.
His need to protect the squad is exacerbated by a tough run of away fixtures with trips to Bournemouth and Brighton in the Premier League sandwiched by a Champions League clash against Sporting CP in Portugal.
The 16-year-old defender Kaden Braithwaite impressed on his debut in the third round victory over Championship side Watford at the Etihad.
But Guardiola says he needs to be careful with young players for the clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at 20:15 (UK) with Ange Postecoglu’s side looking for a response from their defeat at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
“There is someone,” Pep said when asked about Academy players. “But we play against Spurs when they are coming from a defeat.
“I know what happened, mentally and for the manager and the players playing against City, sorry to tell you again, four Premier League titles in a row, I know they will be at their best.
“The Carabao Cup, also, we won four times in a row. Always, I use the first rounds to play the guys who didn’t play maybe regularly.
“But now we have a problem. We have a lot of injured players. I cannot take as much, but I don’t want to put that much pressure on the young, young players to be in this stage against this opponent for the way they play.
“That’s why I have to make a mix for the players. Split minutes. We will arrive home at 2am or 3am on Wednesday night and Friday we have to travel to Bournemouth.
“It’s a really intense game, the way they play and the way they are, that’s why we have to try and think about it and keep one eye on that.
“And after travel to Lisbon, the recovery will be so difficult this time. That’s why you have to take a look at how the players come back and today in training, how fresh [they are] and try to minimise the mistakes in the selection.”
Watch the second part of Pep’s press conference in the video above…
