Manchester City welcomed Norwich City to the Etihad Stadium for a Carabao Cup third-round tie, with both sides fielding heavily rotated lineups ahead of busy weekend fixtures.
Enzo Maresca's City, the reigning League Cup holders, made wholesale changes with captain Mateo Kovacic leading a side that included three debutants. Argentina international Gero Rulli started in goal, Brazilian winger Allan – a £34m summer signing – featured in his first appearance for the club, and 17-year-old academy midfielder Floyd Samba was handed a first-team debut. Samba, an England Under-17 international also eligible for France, Congo and Germany, is the son of former Blackburn Rovers defender Christopher Samba. He has already shown his quality at youth level, netting 17 goals and providing six assists in 24 appearances for City's academy sides last season, including a memorable free-kick in the FA Youth Cup final win over Manchester United.
The City bench remained stacked with talent despite the rotation, with £85m Ayyoub Bouaddi and £60m Iliman Ndiaye among the substitutes named alongside the likes of Marcus Bettinelli, Nico O'Reilly's fellow academy graduates, and Divin Mubama.
Norwich boss Philippe Clement opted for a similarly bold approach, making nine changes from the side that suffered a dramatic 4-3 defeat at Middlesbrough at the weekend. Jacob Wright, who came off the bench to score and assist in that match, was rewarded with a starting berth in the Canaries' revamped XI, which also included Grimshaw in goal and a back line built around Fisher, Darling and Bruno Alves.
The Championship side arrived at the Etihad with plenty on their plate. Currently sitting in mid-table, Norwich have play-off ambitions but also face a pivotal home fixture against Bolton this coming weekend, adding to the selection dilemma facing Clement over how hard to push his squad in this cup tie.
History has not been kind to Norwich on visits to Manchester City. The Canaries suffered 5-0 Premier League defeats at the Etihad in both 2020 and 2021, while an even heavier loss came in 2013, when City ran out 7-0 winners courtesy of goals from Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko, plus two Norwich own goals. The closest Norwich have come to an upset in recent times was in 2015, when City needed an 89th-minute penalty to snatch a narrow 2-1 victory.
Ruebyn Ricardo of Leicestershire took charge of proceedings, with kick-off set for 7:30pm BST.
Whoever emerges victorious from this third-round encounter will progress to face Brighton in the fourth round. The Seagulls secured their spot with a stirring comeback win away at Manchester United, a result that eliminated the possibility of an all-Manchester derby later in the competition.
For Norwich, the tie represented a rare opportunity to test themselves against a major Premier League force in a knockout setting, even with City fielding a weakened squad. For City, attention will quickly turn to Sunday's league fixture against Sunderland, with Maresca expected to recall many of his first-choice players for that assignment regardless of the outcome in this cup contest.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football.