Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola could have the likes of Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake and Rodri available for Thursday’s Carabao Cup tie against Liverpool.

The first team is pretty threadbare, with most of the squad still absent following the World Cup, but those players who went out of the last 16 stage or earlier may be in contention.

Manchester City’s Predicted XI To Play Liverpool:

Ortega, Lewis, Akanji, Laporte, Gomez, Palmer, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Haaland, Borges

Liverpool had fewer players away at the tournament in Qatar but they have plenty of injuries to contend with instead. Luis Diaz (knee), Diogo Jota (calf) and Arthur Melo (thigh) are all ruled out of the match at the Etihad.

Liverpool’s Predicted XI:

Kelleher, Ramsay, Matip, Gomez, Robertson, Elliott, Bajcetic, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Salah, Firmino, Nunez

The bookmakers have made City the slight favourites with Unibet pricing them at 19/20 odds on for the win. A draw is 14/5 with BetVictor while a victory for Liverpool is 3/1 at Bet 365.

Predicted Score – 2-2 (City to win on penalties)