Final Carabao Cup: Can Pep Guardiola and Manchester City really win the quad? | Football News

Defending Carabao Cup title would put Man City in contention for unprecedented quadruple

Before the Carabao Cup final Sunday, we will evaluate the chances of Manchester City to win a quadruple history this season.

City is still fighting on all four fronts and the win against Chelsea at Wembley this weekend would make for an unprecedented sweep, with Pep Guardiola's team also well positioned in the Premier League and in the closing laps of the Champions League and FA Cup.

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Here we examine the challenges facing the city for the final stage of the season and evaluate their chances of winning the four trophies available to them.

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The final of the Carabao Cup and the whole of March will be decisive for the continuation of the first quadruple never achieved by City, who will play matches in the four competitions in the space of a few weeks.

City will face Chelsea, who beat Wembley 6-0 on Feb. 10, hoping to win their fourth league Cup of the last six years.

Guardiola's team hopes to be able to count on the advantage of the second leg against Bundesliga team Schalke on Wednesday and March 12th in the UEFA Champions League match. Sky sports.

However, this match will now be reprogrammed, with the quarter-finals of the FA Cup scheduled for this weekend.

How many City games should he play?

Could floodlighting affect City?

There are 11 Premier League games left in City, but the Premier League champions could be physically threatened by a grueling end to the campaign.

If the cities reached the final of each competition, they would play eleven more games including the final of the Carabao Cup, the FA Cup and all rounds of the Champions League.

That would bring their total for this season to a whopping 64 games, dating back to their victory over Community Shield against Chelsea on August 5, 2018, until the Champions League final on June 1, 2019.

Does City have a strength in depth?

Guardiola has used fewer players than 18 other Premier League clubs this season

Perhaps surprisingly, City has used the second smallest number of Premier League players this season. They match Brighton using 21 players across the campaign so far. Only wolves used less (18).

Foden doubles Newport's dream

Phil Foden's double in the second half saw Manchester City beat Newport County County 4-1 at Rodney Parade to qualify for the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

Although Guardiola is reputed to have changed his team's training over a single season, he tends to maintain confidence in the same players. Could this be a problem with so many games coming up where the pressure to use your best players increases?

City has a more than capable replacement in all field positions, but they hope that Ederson in particular will not suffer an injury next month.

Arijanet Muric has not appeared in the Premier League this season

Claudio Bravo is ruled out until the end of March after fracturing his Achilles in August. This would force City to resort to Arijanet Muric, third choice, who has played only five league games this season, as a short-term option though he had a setback.

Top scorers Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne were both injured in November. They failed in the first Premier League loss to Chelsea this season, and forced them to play their second defeat at home against Crystal Palace.

Sergio Aguero scored 11 rounds of the Premier League hat

These results suggest that keep their top scorer and the best playmaker in shape and that their team can play a crucial role for City to fight on all four fronts.

A first for Guardiola

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Guardiola downplayed City's chances of quadruple in January

The Sky Bet odds allow City to win the quad at 20/1, but for Guardiola, it will be a step into the unknown. No English team in history has won the four major titles in a single season.

Guardiola led Barcelona to a hat-trick in the 2008/09 season and won a national double with Bayern, but the UEFA Champions League escaped him during his three-year stay in Germany.

Guardiola won the hat-trick with Barcelona in the 2008/09 season

At City, he won a Premier League Cup double in the league last season, but this 48-year-old has not hidden his secret, he wants to win all the silverware pieces.

He said in January: "Which are the best clubs of the last decade? Juventus, Bayern Munich, Barcelona. These are the three best teams of the last decade in Europe, why?

"Because every season they win the league, every season they win the cups, every season they are there and that's what I want."

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