Manchester City and Norwich City named their starting lineups for their Carabao Cup third-round meeting, a 7.30pm BST tie that puts the League Cup holders on course for Brighton if they get through. Ruebyn Ricardo of Leicestershire was appointed referee for the match.
The interest today is not just who starts, but how much Manchester City change after what is usually a heavy cup schedule for a club with bigger games to manage. City went with Rulli, Lewis, Khusanov, Vitor Reis, O’Reilly, Bouaddi, Kovacic, Allan, Cherki, Ait Nouri and Floyd Samba, while Norwich selected Grimshaw, Fisher, Darling, Bruno Alves, Yongwa, Wright, Field, Crnac, Ben Slimane, Diallo and Kvistgaarden. Once the lineups are out, the match becomes a straight test of whether Norwich can use the openings that come when a stronger side leaves out some or most of its best players.
That is the hope for Norwich, a Championship side that arrived after a 4-3 defeat at Middlesbrough and with a home match against Bolton waiting on the weekend after this one. Their task is made harder by the history attached to this fixture. Recent trips to the Etihad Stadium have been rough for Norwich fans, with Manchester City beating them 7-0 in 2013, 2-1 in 2015 through an 89th-minute penalty, and 5-0 in both 2020 and 2021.
For City, the cup still matters because the winner moves on to Brighton in the fourth round. For Norwich, the question is simpler and more urgent: can a rotated Manchester City side be made uncomfortable before the clock runs down at Etihad Stadium?
