Huddersfield Town 0 Manchester City 2: match report

Foden impresses again as Blues comfortably ease into fourth round of Carabao Cup

Manchester City travelled to Huddersfield on Wednesday night for their first match of the 2025-26 Carabao Cup campaign following their hard-fought 1-1 draw with Arsenal on Sunday. The XI was significantly changed from the team that featured in the previous three games. Trafford returned between the sticks. O’Reilly, Ake, Stones, and Nunes were in defence. Nico, Foden, and Lewis were in the midfield with Bobb, Savio, and Mukasa in attack.

The match started with a hairy moment for goalkeeper Trafford, who almost picked up the ball outside the area but only just got there in time, avoiding punishment. Following this, the Blues for the most part dominated possession and threatened the Terriers goal in the early stages. Mukasa had an initial chance denied by the defence in the 9th minute following a pass in by Bobb, who impressed on the right wing. Phil Foden was very impressive again, firing City’s first in on the 18th minute from long range into the bottom right corner, Musaka got the assist. The Blues continued to be dominant in possession and threat for the remainder of the first half but the Huddersfield defence did well to keep out any further goals and City were limited to just the one in the first half despite numerous chances.

Huddersfield’s initial chance came in the 32nd minute but was off the mark with the header from Redmond. They then had a chance again seven minutes later with a cross in towards Sorensen, but it was narrowly short. After a brief pause for a Huddersfield injury, the score remained 1-0 at half time.

In the second half, City were still largely the more dominant side. O’Reilly had the chance to make it two, but his attempted chip went straight to the goalkeeper. Redmond had a chance to equalise the next minute, but his attempt was off the mark again. City knocked on the Huddersfield door across the next 20 minutes and it finally paid off when Foden passed it wide on the left to Savinho who struck the ball brilliantly at the near post to double the Blues lead and all but end the match. Substitutions followed for City including Kalvin Phillips and the Heskey brothers (sons of former player Emile Heskey) to see the game out. Huddersfield made a late surge to get a goal and a long-range shot hit the post in the 87th minute but City survived with a clean sheet.

Key players such as Rodri, Haaland, and Doku had been rested. City comfortably eased into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup and will play Swansea City away next in the competition. Their next fixture in the league is Burnley at home on Saturday.