How Manchester City could line up against Burton Albion

Manchester City are on the brink of reaching back-to-back EFL Cup finals for the first time in their history, boasting a 9-0 lead heading into the second leg of their semi-final with Burton Albion.

The Citizens cruised to a record win in the opening 90 minutes through four Gabriel Jesus goals and one apiece from Kevin De Bruyne, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker and Riyad Mahrez.

City, who won the competition last season by seeing off Arsenal in the final, are now expected to make mass changes for this return fixture at the Pirelli Stadium.

Ahead of Wednesday evening's clash in East Staffordshire, Sports Mole looks at how Pep Guardiola could set out his side.

Out: Benjamin Mendy (knee), Claudio Bravo (Achilles)

Guardiola may be restricted in the number of changes he makes, as City's Under-23s side face Sunderland in the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup trophy 24 hours beforehand - a match the authorities refused to move.

That will deny a number of academy players the chance to win their first appearance at senior level, though Guardiola did reveal at the weekend that he will still bring in some youngsters.

"Some young players are going to play with us. That's the problem for the federation," he told reporters. "The first team is most important team, and after that the second and third team."

Judging by those comments, the Citizens' starting lineup at the Pirelli Stadium will be pretty mixed, combining some of those that started the first leg with some unknown names to those on the outside.

Philippe Sandler played 23 minutes of the recent FA Cup win against Rotherham United and is in line to start alongside Eric Garcia, though Vincent Kompany is also in contention if Guardiola is after some experience in the backline.

The inclusion of Nabil Touaizi may force Jesus, boasting five goals in this season's competition, into a wide position, while Luke Bolton and Adrian Bernabe are other names in the mix for this dead rubber.