Manchester City will be looking to continue their recent dominance of the EFL Cup when they take on League One Oxford United in the quarter-finals of the competition at the Kassam Stadium on Wednesday night.
Pep Guardiola's side have lifted the trophy four times in the past six seasons, including both of the last two, and will be overwhelming favourites to advance to the semi-finals at the expense of their lower-league opponents.
Match preview
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A third successive EFL Cup crown was probably at the bottom of Manchester City's priority list at the start of the season, but with their trophy hopes having diminished significantly since then they will welcome what, on paper at least, looks to be a fairly straightforward route into the semi-finals.
Guardiola's side remain 14 points adrift of runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool after 17 games of the season and have been drawn against 13-time winners Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League - a difficult tie against a club who are specialists in Europe.
It is far too early to be looking ahead to their February trip to the Bernabeu just yet, though, and first they must visit the rather less glamorous surroundings of the Kassam Stadium.
City are looking for three consecutive wins across all competitions for the first time since the beginning of November, having been back to their scintillating best during their 3-0 triumph at Arsenal on Sunday.
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A huge match against second-placed Leicester City is next up in the Premier League and Guardiola will no doubt have one eye on that showdown with his team selection in midweek, particularly with Liverpool's absence at the Club World Cup leaving them with a chance to close the gap.
That being said, the City boss has not taken any chances against lower-league opposition in recent years and the likes of David Silva, Riyad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus all started when these two sides met in the third round of this competition last season.
Since being knocked out of the 2017-18 FA Cup by Wigan Athletic, Man City have won all seven of their matches against teams from lower divisions, scoring a whopping 30 goals and conceding just three times in the process.
Preston North End were the latest casualties as Man City cruised to a 3-0 triumph at Deepdale in the third round of this season's competition, before easing past Southampton in the last round to set up this contest.
Should they lift the trophy again this season then Man City would have won each of the last six domestic trophies available to them, which is an example of the task facing a club whose only major piece of silverware was this one in 1985-86.
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Oxford sit 49 places below City in the English football pyramid, with Karl Robinson's side missing the chance to move into the playoff places and up to fifth with a 1-0 defeat at struggling MK Dons on Saturday.
The U's have now failed to score in each of their last three matches, representing a dramatic slump in form having gone unbeaten in 16 successive matches inside normal time prior to that.
The likelihood of them ending that run against the champions seems slim, but they have only lost once at home inside 90 minutes since February and have already claimed the scalps of Millwall and West Ham United in front of their own fans during their run to the quarter-finals, the latter of which was a thumping 4-0 win.
Newcastle United are another Premier League giant to have slipped up away to Oxford in recent times, and manager Robinson has form when it comes to upsetting the odds himself having masterminded MK Dons' 4-0 win over Manchester United in 2014.
There is a glimmer of hope for Oxford, then, but victory on Wednesday would surely be their biggest giant-killing yet.
Oxford EFL Cup form: WWWW
Oxford form (all competitions): WWWLDL
Man City EFL Cup form: WW
Man City form (all competitions): DDWLWW
Team News
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David Silva has missed the last two games with a leg injury and, while he should be in contention to feature in this match, he may not be risked with one eye on the Leicester game at the weekend.
Guardiola will take the opportunity to rest a number of usual starters, with Kevin De Bruyne probably at the top of that list following his first-half masterclass at the Emirates.
The likes of Riyad Mahrez, Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko are all pushing for starts, while Guardiola could look into resting Gabriel Jesus given his workload during Sergio Aguero's injury absence.
The match will come too soon for the Argentine, who remains sidelined along with Aymeric Laporte and John Stones.
Man City can ill-afford any more defensive injuries and so both Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Eric Garcia could come in at centre-back to protect Fernandinho and Nicolas Otamendi.
Oxford, meanwhile, will be without Malachi Napa, Simon Eastwood, Anthony Forde and Liverpool loanee midfielder Ben Woodburn through injury.
George Thorne, Jamie Hanson and top-scorer James Henry are doubts, leaving Robinson with a potentially weakened side for this contest.
Oxford possible starting lineup:
Archer; Cadden, Dickie, Mousinho, Ruffels; Sykes, Gorrin, Brannagan; Hall, Taylor, Fosu
Man City possible starting lineup:
Bravo; Cancelo, Garcia, Harwood-Bellis, Zinchenko; Foden, Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, Jesus, Bernardo
We say: Oxford 0-4 Man City
It is difficult to see anything other than a comfortable away win in this match given the gulf in class between the two teams. Man City have not suffered from complacency going into games against lower-league opposition recently and it is unlikely that Guardiola would allow them to do so this time around.
Barney Corkhill
