Manchester United vs Man City prediction: How will Carabao Cup semi-final play out tonight?


Another Manchester derby takes place on Wednesday night, with United hosting City in the League Cup semi-final, less than a month after the two clubs met in the Premier League. On that occasion it was a fairly dismal goalless draw; this time around a winner must be found as the Carabao Cup semis are not being held over two legs as usual.

At the weekend both teams emerged triumphant, United beating Aston Villa with a contentious penalty and City powering past Chelsea in emphatic fashion, leaving Pep Guardiola’s team the slightly more in form of the two coming into this fixture – but behind Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side in the Premier League table, fifth to second and four points the difference with a game in hand for City.

It’s City, though, who have the brilliant recent record in this competition, winning the final in each of the last three years, and they’ll be attempting to match Liverpool’s four-in-a-row record if they win this fixture and reach the final at Wembley, which has been pushed back in the hopes of having fans in for.

READ MORE: Premier League fixtures and table – all matches by date and kick-off time

Teams will be allowed five substitutes in the semis and the final after a rule change for this stage of the competition, though City’s ranks are somewhat depleted by an outbreak of positive coronavirus tests.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match.

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When is the match?

The game will kick-off at 7:45pm on Wednesday, 6 January 2021 at Old Trafford.

Where can I watch it?

The match will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports Ultra HD and streamed on the Sky Go app.

If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.

What is the team news?

Manchester United have Victor Lindelof as the only first-team injury doubt. Edinson Cavani is still suspended. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will have to decide how many of his regular starters to go with in the cup, where the likes of Dean Henderson have been playing.

For City, five players will be missing due to Covid-19, including Ederson, Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus. Nathan Ake is a doubt and Pep Guardiola will have to see who is fit to play after facing Chelsea on Sunday.

Predicted line-ups

MUN: Henderson; Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Maguire, Shaw; Fred, McTominay; Rashford, Fernandes, Pogba; Martial

MCI: Steffen; Cancelo, Stones, Dias, Mendy; Fernandinho, Gundogan; Sterling, De Bruyne, Foden; Aguero

Odds

United – 45/17

Draw – 37/13

City – 13/12

Prediction

It’s not the biggest competition for either club, but City have a proud recent record in the League Cup and United are trying to reestablish themselves as one of the top teams in the country, so this could have more riding on it than usual. City’s upturn in form, then, comes at the perfect time for this semi-final. Man United 1-2 Man City

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