Five debuts in youthful City line-up against Wycombe | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has handed five Academy graduates their debut for tonight’s game against Wycombe Wanderers.

CJ Egan-Riley, Luke Mbete, Fin Burns, Josh Wilson-Esbrand and Romeo Lavia all make their first team bows against the Chairboys as the manager keeps good his word to use the Club’s production line of talent.

Teams

City: Steffen, Egan-Riley, Mbete, Burns, Wilson-Esbrand, Lavia, De Bruyne (c), Foden, Sterling, Mahrez, Torres

Subs: Carson, Dias, Jesus, Bernardo, Cancelo, Palmer, McAtee

Wycombe: Stockdale, Jacobson, Gape, Stewart, Tafazolli, Wheeler. Kaikai, Hanlan, Akinfenwa, Obita, McCarthy

AKINFENWA: 'WE DIDN'T WANT CITY!'

10 changes

Aside from Zack Steffen returning, City’s back four and holding midfielder are all playing their first senior game.

Egan-Riley, Mbete, Burns, Wilson-Esbrand and Lavia (pictured below) will need Steffen's leadership and voice as they settle into the task.

The experience kicks in with skipper Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Ferran Torres, with more first teamers on the bench.

It will be a test for the youngsters, but what an opportunity to shine in front of Pep and the Etihad crowd.

Formation: 4-3-3

The back four will be Egan-Riley at right-back, Mbete and Burns in the centre and Wilson-Esbrand is our left back.

Lavia will sit in front of his EDS team-mates in the anchor role, with De Bruyne and Foden in front of him.

Torres, Mahrez and Sterling will lead the attack.

Can City do it for a fifth time?

Winning competitions domestically is no mean feat in England as the 35-year wait we had between trophies from 1976 to 2011 proves.

So, in 2021, to be talking about City winning the same trophy for the fifth time in a row is quite incredible.

People in the media have nicknamed the Carabao Cup ‘the Manchester City cup’ – after four successes in a row equalled the record set by Liverpool in the early 1980s.

Now, City can go one better.

Other teams will have seen our success and want a day out at Wembley early next year – and there are plenty of teams left in who haven’t won a cup for a number of years, so it won’t be easy.

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