Manchester City vs Newcastle live: Team news and line-ups before Carabao Cup semi-final – UK Times

For Newcastle, Eddie Howe looks like he’s setting up with a back three/five this evening.

There are five changes to his starting line-up as Lewis Miley, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy and Yoane Wissa all drop out.

In their place come Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier, Joe Willock, Sandro Tonali and Nick Woltemade.

Woltemade will lead the line with Jacob Ramsey and Anthony Gordon alongside him as Newcastle look to overturn a two goal deficit.

Pep Guardiola has made four changes to the Manchester City team that started the first leg.

The big news is that Erling Haaland doesn’t start and begins the game on the bench with Omar Marmoush preferred to lead the line.

Tijjani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez also come in and Rayan Ait-Nouri takes the left-back position.

Alongside Haaland, Max Alleyne, Bernado Silva and Jeremy Doku drop out.

Newcastle XI: Ramsdale; Thiaw, Botman, Burn; Trippier, Tonali, Willock, Hall; Ramsey, Woltemade, Gordon

Man City XI: Trafford; Nunes, Khusanov, Ake, Ait-Nouri; Gonzalez, Reijnders, O’Reilly; Semenyo, Foden, Marmoush

The line-ups will be released in the next five minutes, so here’s a reminder of the early team news for each side…

Savio, John Stones and Jeremy Doku are nearing returns later this month, while Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol remain the long-term absentees.

For the Magpies, Bruno Guimaraes and Lewis Miley will likely miss out, though Sven Botman has been passed fit. Joelinton and Emil Krafth should make returns later this month, while Tino Livramento and Fabian Schar are likely out until March and April respectively.

Here’s what happened when these sides met in the first leg back in mid-January.

Knocked out of the Carabao Cup in August, Antoine Semenyo may be taking Manchester City to the final of it. And if that made little sense, the rule change that allowed players to represent two clubs in the competition this season had irritated Eddie Howe even before Manchester City’s latest signing threatened to end Newcastle’s defence of their first major trophy since the 1960s.

In previous years, he would have been cup-tied. Not now. “The rules are the rules,” said Howe, but a rewrite to them came at a bad time for Newcastle. Semenyo’s part in Bournemouth’s summer defeat to Brentford might be no impediment to claiming a winner’s medal. His first-leg strike, coupled with Rayan Cherki’s 99th-minute second, means City can envisage a March date with Arsenal or Chelsea at Wembley. “First step to reach the final,” said Pep Guardiola. Newcastle need a turnaround at the Etihad next month and it is a bogey ground. “We haven’t got a good record there, I haven’t good a good record there but records are there to be broken,” said Howe. “We are still alive, still fighting.”

Manchester City have fallen in the Premier League’s net spend table over the last five years, but Richard Jolly argues that Guardiola has missed part of the story…

“That’s a nice quote, eh?” smiled Pep Guardiola. And yet, he felt, not one that would change his club’s reputation. Manchester City were the biggest spenders in the January transfer window and, with an outlay of some £430m in the last 13 months, their expenditure since the start of 2025 has been lavish. And yet, Guardiola argued, not in the context of half a decade, or a division.

Guardiola knows City will never shed the tag of big spenders. “Never, never, never,” he said. “Always, we will live for that.” But he had looked at the league table and the net-spend charts and, with a hint of mischief, had said: “I’m a little bit sad and upset because in net spend the last five years we are seventh in the Premier League. I want to be the first, I don’t understand why the club don’t spend more money. I am a little bit grumpy with them.

The City manager pointed out six rival clubs have outspent his over the past five years and challenged them to better his team on the field.

City spent £82.5million to bolster their squad in the January transfer window with the signings of Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, continuing a squad overhaul that began last year.

And here’s what Eddie Howe had to say about this evening’s match-up:

“It’s going to be an almighty challenge. There’s no greater challenge than Manchester City. We believe in ourselves and are going to give it a good go. We just have to try to win the game. If we have that mentality and attack the game then let’s see what we can do.”

Here’s what Pep Guardiola had to say on today’s game:

“We have the chance to make our fifth final in 10 years in the Carabao Cup. I prefer to start 2-0 up but I know perfectly how many times we have played Newcastle – the pride they have.

“They are a Champions League team and it will be a tough game. We have to be prepared and play our game for our people, our fans and try to reach Wembley in March,” he added.