Manchester City host Norwich City in the third round of the Carabao Cup tonight, with kick-off at 7.30pm BST.
Recent trips to the Etihad Stadium have been rough for Norwich supporters. They suffered 5-0 Premier League defeats there in 2020 and again in 2021, and in 2013 City went two better, scoring seven. Sergio Agüero, Yaya Touré, David Silva, Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko were on the scoresheet that day, along with two own goals from Bradley Johnson and Russell Martin. Norwich ran City close only once in recent years, in 2015, but an 89th-minute penalty gave City a narrow 2-1 win.
This, though, is the cup rather than the league, and Norwich can dream accordingly. The Canaries will be channelling the spirit of Jonny Howson tonight.
City are the League Cup holders and, with the visit of Sunderland on Sunday, they will surely rest some or most of their best players. The difficulty for Norwich is that Maresca’s benchwarmers are still some of the best players in the world, with the £85m teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi and the £60m recruit Iliman Ndiaye expected to start.
The big question for Norwich and their manager Philippe Clement is whether to go for it. The Championship side are reeling from a dramatic 4-3 defeat at Middlesbrough and the long trip home, and the play-off hopefuls, currently in mid-table, have a crucial home match against Bolton this weekend.
The winner of the tie will face Brighton in the fourth round, which is not ideal for either City or Norwich. Brighton’s comeback win at Manchester United on Wednesday denied a potential Manchester derby, but there is plenty of work for City and Norwich to get through here before anyone starts looking too far ahead.