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Manchester City are reportedly set to be without 11 first-team regulars for their EFL Cup last-16 encounter against Premier League arch-rivals Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday (December 22).
Both clubs are set to resume their 2022-23 season in their Carabao Cup knockout fixture against each other after the conclusion of the 2022 FIFA World Cup earlier this month. While Pep Guardiola's side had a whopping 16 players participating in the tournament, the Merseyside outfit had just seven first-team starters featuring in Qatar.
According to the Manchester Evening News, Manchester City are set to be without the services of Ederson, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones, Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker in their backline against the Reds.
Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and 2022 FIFA World Cup winner Julian Alvarez are also expected to miss out on their home clash against Jurgen Klopp's side.
Among the other participants in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji are believed to be available for Manchester City's upcoming EFL Cup fixture.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are expected to be without Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson for their upcoming contest. Darwin Nunez is believed to be available in light of his recent cameo in his team's 4-1 friendly win over AC Milan.
While Manchester City are currently second in the 2022-23 Premier League table with 32 points from 14 games, Liverpool are sixth with just 22 points, seven points off fourth, from the same number of matches.
Gabriel Agbonlahor weighs in on upcoming Manchester City-Liverpool showdown
Speaking to Football Insider, former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor shared his thoughts on Manchester City's upcoming Carabao Cup clash against Liverpool. Predicting the latter to win, he said:
"I think it'll probably be Liverpool who win. They have a lot of players who didn't go to the World Cup and players who went out early. Look at [Darwin] Nunez, he was knocked out during the group stages. The likes of [Virgil] van Dijk won't be back yet."
Agbonlahor hit out at Pep Guardiola for complaining about his lack of senior stars in a recent pre-match press conference. He added:
"I just think that it's one of those things. City have got a very good U21s, they've got players who are banging on the first-team door. A lot of teams use this competition as well to rotate out the first-team players. I think Pep's just got to get on with it and stop moaning. There’s nothing you can do about it now."
