Date: Wednesday 6th December, 2020
Time: 8:45 pm
Stadium Old Trafford
Manchester United Team News:
Man United have had an extra two days of rest prior to this game and that could afford them the luxury of naming as close to a full-strength team as possible.
Victor Lindelof remains a doubt having missed the last two games with a back injury, while Edinson Cavani serves the second of his three-match ban for a social media post which contained an allegedly discriminatory word.
Dean Henderson is expected to return in goal in place of David de Gea, while Solskjaer must also decide whether to bring the likes of Alex Telles, Mason Greenwood, Donny van de Beek and Juan Mata back into the side.
Manchester United possible starting lineup:
Henderson; Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Fred, Pogba; Fernandes; Martial, Rashford
Manchester United EFL Cup form: WWW
Manchester United form (all competitions): WWWDWW
Manchester City Team News:
The EFL Cup usually results in a raft of changes being made by the Premier League’s top teams, but with both of these clubs having FA Cup games at home to Championship opposition next up, there could be two strong sides named on Wednesday.
Man City’s options are severely limited, though, with as many as eight players in danger of missing out, six of whom have fallen foul of the coronavirus outbreak at the club.
Ederson, Gabriel Jesus, Kyle Walker, Ferran Torres, Eric Garcia and Tommy Doyle were all missing against Chelsea due to COVID-19 and are expected to be absent on Wednesday too.
Jesus and Walker would have completed their 10-day isolation period by the time the match is played and so could be available in theory, although they will first have to provide a negative test.
On top of that, Guardiola was also without defensive duo Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake for the trip to Chelsea and, while neither problem is thought to be serious, they could again miss out here due to the quick turnaround.
Phil Foden scored at Stamford Bridge and will hope to be awarded another start here, having had a direct hand in nine goals from his last 12 League Cup appearances.
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Steffen; Cancelo, Dias, Stones, Mendy; Fernandinho, Gundogan; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Foden; Aguero
Manchester City EFL Cup form: WWW
Manchester City form (all competitions): DDWWWW
Head to Head
These two sides have already met once this season at Old Trafford, although that entirely forgettable goalless draw does not accurately represent the excitement this fixture usually provides.
Wednesday will be the fourth time the two rivals have met in the semi-finals of this competition – a joint-record alongside the North London derby – and sees them do so for the second year in a row, with Man City winning 3-2 on aggregate last season.
However, Man United are now unbeaten in their last three games against Man City across all competitions, keeping clean sheets in all of those, and could go four without defeat against their rivals for the first time since February 2011.
Prediction: Manchester United 2-2 Manchester City (Man City to win on penalties)
