Manchester City progressed to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night after a 4-3 penalty shootout victory over Brighton and Hove Albion. The Blues twice trailed to goals from Malick Yalcouye and Georginio Rutter, but Mateo Kovacic and Vitor Reis levelled the tie to force spot kicks.
Kovacic saw his penalty saved by Jason Steele before Geronimo Rulli made a save of his own. Rayan Cherki converted City's fifth kick, allowing Rulli to be the hero as he denied Lewis Dunk to win the shootout. City will now host League One Bradford in the last eight for a place in the semi-finals.
Five players rested for cup tie
City were without Erling Haaland, Elliot Anderson, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Gianluigi Donnarumma for the cup clash. All five were given a three-day break following the Aston Villa defeat, but they should be back to face Brighton again on Saturday.
With that in mind, MEN Sport has looked at three potential injury concerns for the Blues this weekend.
Ndiaye and Nunes could feature against Brighton
Iliman Ndiaye is dealing with cramp. The forward performed well in the first half against Villa and set up Haaland for the equaliser, but was replaced towards the end of the game, clutching his leg as he left the pitch. Enzo Maresca played down concerns on Saturday, explaining he had cramp. Ndiaye was an unused substitute on Wednesday night. His potential return date is October 31 against Brighton.
Matheus Nunes has a groin issue. At Villa Park, Maresca said Nunes could be back in the squad on Wednesday night, but the full-back was not included, raising questions over his fitness. Maresca could provide further information during Friday's press conference. His potential return date is also October 31 against Brighton.
Semenyo sidelined until December
Antoine Semenyo remains the biggest concern for Maresca and City. The head coach confirmed last week that the player will be sidelined until December. "In the first moment we expect an even worse injury," he said, "so we were more worried but after the scan we are less worried. It could be eight weeks."
"Now the most important thing is to recover it. When he is back, around December, we have a new player. It's not muscular." His potential return date is December.
