Steve Cooper has suggested it will be a heavily-rotated Leicester City side that looks to bring the excitement of a win over Manchester United on their own patch.
Cooper made plenty of changes for their previous two Carabao Cup rounds, and while the standard of opposition has risen sharply from the ties against Tranmere and Walsall, the City boss said he had to think about utilising his squad with a Premier League clash at Ipswich coming up at 3pm on Saturday. Those that come into the side will be fighting for a place in the quarter-finals, a big carrot even for a club whose priority is survival.
Conor Coady, Luke Thomas, Oliver Skipp, Boubakary Soumare, Bilal El Khannouss, Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Odsonne Edouard are among the players who could get their chance to impress at Old Trafford.
Cooper does feel he has the depth to cope with two matches in four days. Asked if he would rotate as he had for the previous two rounds, Cooper said at his press conference on Tuesday: “Maybe, yeah. The difference with this one is that it’s an away game on Wednesday and then we go to Ipswich at the weekend.
“It’s about a culture and mentality that you can’t turn on and off. You have to commit to it every day. Our approach to any game we play is that we want to be at our best.”
City have a decent record in the Carabao Cup and have reached the quarter-finals in five of the past seven seasons. However, they have never won a cup tie at Old Trafford. If they manage it for the first time, it will be a boost ahead for the Premier League too.
Cooper added: “We’d love to have a good cup run. If we have a good cup run, there’s so many good things to be gained from it beyond staying in the competition and getting further towards the final.
“The excitement of going to United, winning and getting to a quarter-final, that’s what we all want. You plan to win. It doesn’t mean you don’t utilise the squad and don’t manage the wider situation. What’s coming for the rest of the week, I think we’ve got to use our squad. I think a cup run would be brilliant for the club and for the players.”
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