Pep Guardiola: Man City won't 'waste energy' on Carabao Cup amid congested schedule club 'cannot handle'

The Spaniard made nine changes to the line-up that faced Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday and managed to eke out a narrow 2-1 win over Watford in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening. While household names like Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker, and John Stones were handed starts, most of the other superstars were rested, including Erling Haaland, which allowed 16-year-old left-back Kaden Braithwaite and 19-year-old midfielder Nico O'Reilly to make their debuts.

Guardiola has announced that he will not risk fielding his strongest team in the fourth round either. He will be prioritising the Premier League and the Champions League and the fringe players will continue to be given opportunities to impress in the League Cup.

After beating Watford, Guardiola told reporters: "The next round, I announce to you, I will play the second team. We are not going to waste energy, for sure. The schedule is the schedule, we cannot handle it anyway. Today for [James] McAtee, Matheus [Nunes], Jack [Grealish], Phil [Foden], who didn't play [against Arsenal], the young lad, 16 years old, it's perfect. That's why it's a good competition, otherwise, we wouldn't win four in a row."

City won the Carabao Cup on four successive occasions from 2018 to 2021, but this time around Guardiola has set this competition in the lowest rung of his priority list as he looks to defend the Premier League crown and win back the Champions League trophy from Real Madrid.

"We play to go through," he added. "We never throw a competition. Never. But we played 50 hours ago. I'm not going to [take] a risk with the Premier League and the Champions League in this competition."

City have little time to recover as they will be back in action on Saturday against Newcastle United at Tyneside in a Premier League fixture.