Manchester City resume their Carabao Cup duties this season with a trip to Premier League 'big six' rivals Tottenham on Wednesday evening.

Despite questions being raised about their performance levels of late, Pep Guardiola's side have raced out to the top of English top-flight table after nine games, sitting one point clear of Liverpool after their draw with Arsenal over the weekend.

But the Etihad Stadium outfit will switch their attention to the Carabao Cup as they square off with Tottenham in north London - a fixture that has given Manchester City plenty of problems over the years.

Ahead of the League Cup clash, fans are expecting a heavily-rotated team after Pep Guardiola said, "The next round, I announce to you now, I play the second team," after dispatching of Watford in the previous round.

But Pep Guardiola may have been talking a big game before he knew Manchester City would be drawing Tottenham in the next round. There does however remain plenty to think about with six major absentees from first-team action.

All sidelined through injury are Rodri and Oscar Bobb, who continue to recover from long-term lay-offs, Jack Grealish Jeremy Doku, Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne, with the latter continuing to build up fitness in first-team training.

Despite the the potential for major rotation at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we'll take a stab at just how the Manchester City boss might set his side up on Wednesday night!

Predicted XI Stefan Ortega Moreno has been Pep Guardiola's go-to man in between the sticks for the cup competitions ever since the German arrived in 2022, and there is no expectation that anything will change this week.

With Kyle Walker having fallen down the pecking order due in large part to the superb form of Rico Lewis at right-back, his knee injury sustained during the last international break will allow for no let-up for the teenager.

Manuel Akanji remains ever-reliable in the centre-back position, and with Ruben Dias seeming to spend Monday night in Paris celebrating Rodri's Ballon d'Or triumph, it will most likely be John Stones who will join the Swiss international in defence.

Nathan Ake's return to the team is a welcome sight for all Manchester City fans, and he should get the nod in the left-back role to give Josko Gvardiol the night off amid a crunch run of cross-competition fixtures.

From midfield up to attack, we will truly start to see the rotation this week.

Ilkay Gundogan is whom we expect to be the steady head in the Manchester City engine room at Tottenham, but he could be joined by impressive youngster Nico O'Reilly - who was subjected to enormous praise from Pep Guardiola throughout pre-season in the summer.

Ahead of the two holding midfielders and more defensively-minded pairing, we should see Phil Foden continue to find his feet in a central attacking role and be granted the keys to Manchester City's creative output.

Savinho may just be the only option on the right-wing due to the injuries that continue to hamper Pep Guardiola's attacking line, and so the Brazilian international will bring his flare to the front-three once again.

The biggest surprise in the line-up could be James McAtee, who we expect to take up the false-nine role in order to hand Erling Haaland some much-needed rest amid an intense schedule.

With both Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku still out injured for this one, and the latter not expected back until after the international break, Matheus Nunes will likely keep his starting spot on the left-wing - a role he has excelled in since the start of the month.

Predicted XI: Ortega Moreno; Walker, Akanji, Stones, Ake; Gundogan, O'Reilly, Foden; Savinho, McAtee, Nunes.

Substitutes: Ederson, Carson, Dias, Gvardiol, Braithwaite, Wright, Kovacic, Bernardo, Haaland.