Wholesale changes for the Carabao Cup are expected once again at Leicester City, even with the level of opponent rising sharply.
City made eight changes against Tranmere in August and 10 changes at Walsall last month, but while they are now taking on a top-flight side in Manchester United, rather than a League Two outfit, Steve Cooper is set to rotate heavily with Premier League survival the priority. There’s potential for nine changes.
It’s likely that at least one centre-back and one full-back from the defeat to Nottingham Forest will remain in the 11, with injuries to Jannik Vestergaard and Victor Kristiansen leaving City light on options at the back. Caleb Okoli was the sole player to keep his spot at Walsall and the Italian could again be selected alongside Conor Coady at the heart of the defence.
It’s a trickier call at full-back. If Kristiansen is not going to recover in time to face Ipswich, James Justin and Ricardo Pereira are likely to play at Portman Road. Cooper will have to decide if he feels Ricardo needs a rest ahead of the Ipswich clash, or, having played so little, will benefit from a midweek run-out. The former option seems likeliest and so Justin would then be at right-back, with Luke Thomas at left-back.
For the rest of the team, City have the options to make changes. Danny Ward, the penalty shoot-out hero from the last round, perhaps deserves his chance to play again.
In deep midfield, Oliver Skipp and Boubakary Soumare are expected to start, while Bilal El Khannouss is the leading candidate to play as the number 10. But there are four options for the three positions out wide and up front.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid is likely to take one wide spot, but then Cooper faces a choice between Jordan Ayew and Kasey McAteer for the other. Academy graduate McAteer has not even been on the bench in recent league games but could be recalled at Old Trafford so that City have one natural wide-man, rather than two players who tend to invert as number 10s.
There is a very slight chance that McAteer could be played as a right-back, which would then allow Ricardo and Justin to be rested. The 22-year-old has started as a wing-back for City previously, while he came on as a left-back in the defeat to Fulham in August.
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