The Brazilian returns in place of Rodrigo, who drops to the bench, whilst Mahrez replaces the suspended Bernardo Silva.
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Guardiola has largely kept faith with the team that started in the brilliant 3-1 win at Chelsea on Sunday, though City are boosted by the return of Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker, who are amongst the substitutes after their periods of self-isolation ended.
With six senior players absent due to illness or injury, 18-year-old goalkeeper James Trafford and 17-year-old defender Luke Mbete are also included on the bench.
Teams
CITY: Steffen, Cancelo, Stones, Dias, Zinchenko, Fernandinho (C), Gundogan, De Bruyne, Foden, Mahrez, Sterling.
SUBS: Trafford, Walker, Jesus, Aguero, Rodrigo, Mendy, Nmecha, Harwood-Bellis, Mbete.
UNITED: Henderson; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire (c), Shaw; Fred, McTominay; Rashford, Fernandes, Pogba; Martial.
SUBS: De Gea, Bailly, Telles, Tuanzebe, James, Mata, Matic, van de Beek, Greenwood.
Formation and squad notes
The key question before kick-off is, who will lead the line up front for City?
Kevin De Bruyne did a fine job at Stamford Bridge three days ago, but Mahrez‘s inclusion suggests the responsibility could well fall to Raheem Sterling, with the Belgian midfielder reverting to his usual position as City’s most advanced midfielder.
Of course, Phil Foden could also adopt the midfield role, allowing De Bruyne to remain in attack, so as always, we’ll have to wait until we get under way to see how Guardiola has lined his team up.
Other than that, the usual 4-3-3 formation should shape up as expected. Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko will reprise their full-back roles, with Ruben Dias and John Stones continuing their blossoming partnership in the centre of defence.
Fernandinho will sit deepest in midfield, with Gundogan ahead of him. Should De Bruyne start in midfield, Foden and Mahrez and Sterling could all interchange positions in the attacking trident.
Facts and stats
- We have not lost a League Cup tie since our 1-0 fourth round defeat to United at Old Trafford in October 2016, a period of 1533 days.
- This is the fourth time we have met United in the League Cup semi-finals, having also done so in 1969-70, 2009-10 and 2019-20, the joint-most of any fixture along with Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur.
- In last year’s semi-final meeting in this competition, the away team won in each leg (3-1 City first leg, 1-0 United second leg), as we prevailed 3-2 on aggregate.
- City are without a win in three games against United in all competitions (L2 D1).
- The home team has won just three of the last 14 matches between the two sides in all competitions (D3 L8).
