Manchester City Faces Brentford Without Key Players As Guardiola Signals Rotation

‎Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, said he will have to manage without several key players for the home League Cup quarter-final against Brentford.

‎Belgian winger, Jeremy Doku, who has been in excellent form this season, remains sidelined with a leg injury and was also unavailable for Sunday’s 3-0 Premier League victory at Crystal Palace.

‎”Sunderland in the New Year maybe (for a potential return on January 1). We will see,” Guardiola told reporters.

‎City will also ⁠be without John Stones (thigh) and Rodri (hamstring) on Wednesday, while ‌Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri are on international duty ​at the Africa Cup of Nations.

‎”When you are one game away from the semi-finals, if you can take it, take it, because you never know when it’s coming back,” Guardiola said.

‎James Trafford is set to start in goal ahead of Gianluigi Donnarumma, the newly crowned FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper of 2025, with Guardiola signaling other changes amid a busy December schedule featuring seven matches.

‎”James is going to play, and all the players that didn’t play recently are going to play, and some from the Academy, because three days after that we have West Ham (in a Premier League match on Saturday),” Guardiola added.

‎”I’m not saying it’s not the priority to get to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, but ⁠normally when we achieve it, it’s when ‌we have all the squad, no injuries and we can rotate.”

‎Manchester City, four-time League Cup winners under Pep Guardiola, are hot on Arsenal’s heels in the Premier League title race, sitting second in the table just two points behind the leaders.