The formality that was Manchester City’s progression to the Carabao Cup final passed without incident on a freezing night in Burton, with a solitary Sergio Aguero goal giving Pep Guardiola’s much-changed side a 10-0 aggregate victory over their League One opponents.
The result, of course, means that both City and Everton will now blank in Gameweek 27 – as reflected in the Season Ticker on our home page and in our Members’ Area.
Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea will contest the remaining Carabao Cup semi-final this evening, with the winners, along with one of Burnley or Brighton and Hove Albion, also set to miss their scheduled Premier League fixture in Gameweek 27 due to the clash with the EFL Cup final.
No date has yet been announced for the Citizens’ rescheduled trip to Goodison Park.
City’s latest victory over Nigel Clough’s side was a low-key affair but we’ll round up the main Fantasy talking points, key manager quotes and headline injury news from Wednesday night’s clash in Staffordshire.
Burton Albion 0-1 Manchester City
- Goals: Sergio Aguero (£11.3m)
- Assists: Riyad Mahrez (£8.3m)
Benjamin Mendy (£6.1m) returned to the Manchester City first-team fold on Wednesday evening, making his first appearance since November in a half-hour run-out off the bench.
The French left-back seemingly came through his comeback unscathed, having his knee tested by an icy pitch that limited City’s effectiveness on the ball.
Speaking of his return, Mendy said:
I feel good, the most important (thing) is my body feels good, my legs and I’m happy.
Ahead of the match, Guardiola discussed his much-injured defender:
We can use him more, that’s what I want.
He just needs to be focused, be focused in your job, in what you have to do, because you have incredible potential, you are young, you can be one of the best left-backs, but it depends on you.
The other side, we cannot help you.
I’m not unhappy about Mendy, I’m not here to change his mentality. His way, the way he is, it is what it is. When we bought him, we knew it.
When we talk about the training sessions, being focused, always he’s perfect. But he’s active in the social media, he likes to be – it’s what it is. We tried to convince him, but I’m not his father.
I’m delighted with Benjamin. To have injuries can happen, but the way he trains, the way he is in the locker room, you cannot imagine how the people love him and like to be with him, in the team spirit and everything.
Much has been made of how Mendy’s return might potentially impact on Leroy Sane‘s (£9.7m) game-time going forward, with Guardiola having previously been averse to playing the pair in the same team on a regular basis (only twice from a possible nine league matches this season).
Mendy may need time to build his fitness up, however, with the France international not having featured in the Premier League since Gameweek 12.
Sane is arguably City’s form player in the front three, too, so it’s far from a given that the German winger will face the axe as soon as Mendy is back to full match-sharpness – though that’s exactly what happened when the left-back returned from his first injury of the season in Gameweek 8.
In the two matches that Mendy and Sane have started together in the league this season, City plundered 11 goals. Those two routs were home fixtures against Burnley and Southampton, so we may perhaps see the left-sided pair used in tandem in the more “winnable” matches to come.
Guardiola made eight changes to his side last night from the team that beat Huddersfield Town 3-0 on Sunday, with Sergio Aguero (£11.3m), Kevin De Bruyne (£9.7m) and Danilo (£5.1m) the only survivors in the starting XI.
Aguero and De Bruyne were given 63-minute run-outs before making way for Gabriel Jesus (£10.2m) and Mendy, and Guardiola was pleased that both players got more pitch-time under their belts without incident:
We played seriously with no injuries and both Kevin and Sergio played 60 to 65 minutes with high intensity.
The game was completely different from the first leg because we started with a 9-0 lead but I didn’t see a lack of desire or to play like we believed we were something that we are not.
Guardiola trialled De Bruyne as a deep-lying midfielder in a central three, with Fabian Delph (£5.3m) and Phil Foden (£4.5m) lining up on either side of the Belgian.
De Bruyne was at the heart of City’s only goal of the evening, too, with his incisive pass releasing Riyad Mahrez (£8.3m) on the right flank – the Algerian squaring for Aguero to finish from about ten yards out.
Aguero later missed a sitter when presented with a gaping goal from a Foden cut-back, while Mahrez twice curled wide when darting in off the right flank and onto his left foot.
Jesus could have added to his 2019 goal haul but saw his close-range effort smothered by Bradley Collins late on.
Burton rarely threatened, though Liam Boyce did have a backheel saved smartly by Aro Muric (£4.5m) in the first half and Will Miller forced City centre-back Eric Garcia to hack the ball off the line after the break.
Guardiola paid tribute to two full debutants, centre-back Philippe Sandler and winger Ian Carlo Poveda:
Ian Carlo was so aggressive with and without the ball, and Philippe played really well with the ball and defensively as well – they both made a good performance.
Manchester City XI (4-3-3): Muric; Danilo, Sandler, Garcia, Zinchenko (F Nmecha 67′); Delph, Foden, De Bruyne (Mendy 63′); Poveda, Mahrez, Aguero (Jesus 63′).
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