Kalvin Phillips makes his long-awaited first start for City against Southampton this evening.

The England star’s six appearances to date have all been as a substitute after a series of injuries curtailed his progress.

Kalvin is one of four changes against Saints, with Jack Grealish, Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo also returning.

Line-ups

CITY: Ortega Moreno, Cancelo, Gomez, Walker, Laporte, Phillips, Gundogan (c), Foden, Grealish, Alvarez, Palmer

Subs: Ederson, Akanji, Ake, Haaland, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Lewis, Bernardo

SOUTHAMPTON: 

FORMATION

It’s likely to be business as usual with a 4-3-3 formation, though defensively, we may have to wait and see.

Based on previous positional shifts, it looks as though Kyle Walker will be alongside Aymeric Laporte at the heart of our back four.

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That would leave Sergio Gomez and Joao Cancelo at left and right-back respectively.

Phillips should anchor the midfield three which is likely to be joined by Gundogan and Phil Foden, with - up front - Grealish on the left, Cole Palmer on the right and Julian Alvarez down the centre.

City have an incredibly strong bench should Pep Guardiola feel the need to change things around.

CITY LOOK TO CONTINUE TROPHY HUNT

If City can see off Southampton, it will edge the Blues closer to yet another Carabao Cup final.

It would also mean two extra games this month and potentially six matches in 17 days.

We’ve been here many times before, but it would mean careful rotation (as always).

First though, City must see off a Saints side who have made life difficult on a number of occasions in recent years.

STATS, FACTS & MILESTONES

● Southampton have progressed from three of their four League Cup ties against City, but did lose the most recent one in 2019-20.

● City have lost just one of their 15 meetings with Southampton in all competitions under Pep Guardiola (W11 D3), winning the last two by 4-1 and 4-0 scorelines respectively.

● Southampton have been eliminated from seven of their last eight League Cup quarter-final ties, though they did win their most recent one 2-0 against Arsenal en route to the final in 2016-17.

● City have won their last eight League Cup quarter-final ties, going on to win the trophy each of the last six times they’ve reached this stage. They last lost in this round of the competition in 2007-08 (0-2 vs eventual winners Spurs).

● Three of Southampton’s last five League Cup ties have gone to penalties, with Saints eliminating Sheffield United (2021-22) and Sheffield Wednesday (2022-23), but losing out to Chelsea in last season’s fourth round.

● City have lost just two of their 29 League Cup matches under Pep Guardiola (W22 D5), with both of those defeats coming against Manchester United. The only club other than Man Utd to eliminate Guardiola from the competition are West Ham, doing so on penalties last season.

● Southampton’s Che Adams has scored five goals in his last three League Cup appearances, netting a brace in both of his games this season. Overall he’s scored in five different League Cup games, netting multiple goals in four of these.

● Riyad Mahrez has scored four goals in his last four League Cup games, as many as he had in his first 15 in the competition for Manchester City.