Watch live coverage of the Carabao Cup quarter-final on Tuesday from 7.30pm on Sky Sports Football
Monday 17 December 2018 09:45, UK
Pep Guardiola says his depleted Manchester City side will not show many changes from their regular Premier League line-up when they continue their Carabao Cup defence against Leicester on Tuesday.
The City boss claimed he had just 15 fit senior players available for their Champions League group-stage victory against Hoffenheim last week, but they welcomed back Kevin De Bruyne against Everton on Saturday for just his third start this season.
David Silva is sidelined during the festive schedule while Benjamin Mendy and Claudio Bravo are longer-term absentees, but Sergio Aguero could feature for the first time after five matches away with a groin issue.
When asked if he might freshen his team up for the trip to the King Power Stadium, live on Sky Sports Football, Guardiola said: "The problem is we don't have many players [to choose from].
"We have a lot of injured players. Some players who played against [Everton] or the last games have to play [against Leicester]."
Guardiola's first title of his tenure at the Etihad came with last season's Carabao Cup success and the City boss is determined to progress further in the cup competition and remain in the hunt on all four fronts.
Tuesday's meeting will be a repeat of when the two clubs met at the same stage of the competition last year, which City won after a penalty shootout.
"Of course it is a chance to reach the semi-final," Guardiola added.
"Since we are here in Manchester we never dropped one game - not even a friendly game.
"A competition must be respected - like we did last season - and we are going to try to win the game."
