Injury crisis deepens with Akanji and Savinho doubts for weekend
Manchester City faced Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening. As expected, Pep fielded some academy players with James Mcatee and Nico O’Reilly starting in midfield for the blues. However, it was still a relatively strong side with Phil Foden in attack, Savio and Matheus Nunes on the wings, Ilkay Gundogan also starting and Nathan Ake, John Stones, Ruben Dias, and Rico Lewis in defence, with Stefan Ortega in goal. Guardiola initially selected Manuel Akanji in the lineup, but was injured during the warmup, hence Dias’s selection.
City started with a very early setback, conceding within just 5 minutes after a pass from Dejan Kulusevski went straight past the entire defence to a wide-open Timo Werner, who struck the ball straight into the top corner to give Spurs the early advantage. City found themselves under significant pressure, constantly being pushed back by the Tottenham attack but still managed to get chances of their own, such as a close pass from Matheus Nunes which went only just wide of the boot of Foden.
Kulusevski tried from distance, but mis queued, sending the ball well wide and Werner came charging forward once more but his effort was saved by Ortega. Spurs efforts were not to be in vain though as despite City’s search for an equaliser, they managed to keep momentum on the attack and double their advantage with a long-range strike from Pape Matar Sarr following a pass from Kulusevski, with the shot going straight past the wall of City players and out of Ortegas reach to make it 2-0.
After conceding the second, the blues showed some more urgency in attack. Foden continued to try and find the net but without much luck as well as a missed free kick from Gundogan also adding to the blues frustration. Nevertheless, City’s attacking efforts eventually rewarded them on the stroke of half time, with a cross in from Savio finding Nunes to strike the ball into the net to make it 2-1 and bring City back into the game.
The second half started with a promising spell for City, with a shot from Savio going just wide of the post. Despite the efforts for an equaliser, spurs also seemed keen on regaining their double advantage, a run from Werner through on goal looked certain to end in a goal for the home side but he blazed it just wide. Kulusevski also had a chance to cross it clear into Werner’s path once again but opted to shoot and the strike was cleanly saved by Ortega.
Injury problems began to appear once more for City as Savio was subbed off for what appeared to be an ankle issue for academy player Jacob Wright. Another academy player later came on with Jahmai Simpson-Pusey replacing Nathan Ake who impressed with the moments he had.
Despite efforts to equalise and force the game into a penalty shootout, these chances were ultimately in vain, with the closest chance coming in stoppage time with Nico O’Reilly’s shot blocked off the line by Tottenham’s defence.
City are out of the Carabao cup for the fourth year running but perhaps they have bigger worries with injuries, with Josko Gvardiol seen being treated for an injury at full time and with the growing list of unavailable players there may be some thinking to do for Guardiola. On the other hand, Tottenham will look to try and end their long trophy drought with a confidence-boosting win over the Premier League champions.