Carabao Cup draw LIVE: Man Utd face Charlton as Man City and Newcastle also discover quarter-final opponents

Liverpool are aiming to record their 150th victory in the history of the League Cup when they visit Manchester City this evening.

The current holders of the trophy can reach the milestone with a win in the Carabao Cup fourth-round clash at the Etihad Stadium against Pep Guardiola’s side.

Pep Guardiola claims he cannot be expected to act like a statue on the touchline against Liverpool.

The Manchester City manager recognises the importance of behaving responsibly in light of the two clubs’ attempts to defuse tensions in their growing rivalry.

Ahead of Thursday’s Carabao Cup clash at the Etihad Stadium, senior figures at both of the north-west powerhouses have made a joint plea to supporters to guard against unacceptable behaviour.

This comes after Liverpool’s win over City at Anfield in October was overshadowed by a number of unsavoury incidents both on and off the field.

The packed schedule around the World Cup will add to pressure on players’ physical and mental health, according to global union Fifpro.

Manchester City return to Premier League action next week with 16 of their players having played a combined 5,180 minutes and covered 486 kilometres in Qatar, the PA news agency’s player burnout study showed.

Arsenal will have to resume their title bid without striker Gabriel Jesus, who was injured in Brazil’s final group game against Cameroon. That followed pre-tournament injuries that ruled out the likes of Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema and Bayern Munich’s ex-Liverpool forward Sadio Mane, and Fifpro general secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann insists proper rest periods are desperately needed.

While not referring to specific players, Baer-Hoffmann told PA: “You have a scientifically-proven correlation between the kind of overload the players are going through and the risk of injuries and we have – especially amongst those elite players – a seemingly-high prevalence of certain injuries that are common when the body is not properly recovered.

The Carabao Cup fourth round takes place this week as domestic football returns following the World Cup, with a host of top clubs in action.

The standout tie is Manchester City - who beat Chelsea in the third round - hosting Liverpool as Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp meet in the League Cup for the very first time.

Despite the lack of game time in recent weeks, it was the Premier League sides who all advanced to the quarter-finals on Tuesday night. Wolves defeated Gillingham, Southampton came from behind to beat Lincoln, and Leicester cruised to victory at MK Dons. In the all-Premier League clash, Newcastle defeated Bournemouth to book their place in the next round.

Manchester United returned to action on Wednesday with a 2-0 victory over Championship leaders Burnley, Nottingham Forest thrashed Blackburn, and League 1 Charlton caused a huge upset as they knocked out Brighton on penalties.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the draw:

Assuming there’s all the football quality but none of the desperation which goes with having to not lose these encounters in league play, it could be a very topsy-turvy, eventful fixture.

Man City 3-2 Liverpool.

Man City XI: Ortega, Lewis, Akanji, Laporte, S Gomez, Gundogan, Palmer, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish

Liverpool XI: Kelleher, Milner, Matip, J Gomez, Robertson, Elliott, Bajcetic, Thiago, Salah, Firmino, Oxlade-Chamberlain

It remains to be seen how many World Cup players for both sides feature, but those who exited at the group stage will have had time off already and could certainly be involved.

That means Kevin de Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan for City, for example, and Darwin Nunez for the Reds.

The latter will be without the still-injured Diogo Jota, while Luis Diaz is also out after needing surgery following his own attempted comeback. Curtis Jones is a doubt but Joel Matip returned to fitness during the mid-winter break.

Erling Haaland and Mo Salah are expected to feature at some point but Julian Alvarez is on leave following his World Cup win with Argentina.

Tonight’s Carabao Cup match kicks off at 8pm GMT on Thursday 22 December 2022.

Man City vs Liverpool will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football and Ultra HD. If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.

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Hello and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the final fixture in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup as Manchester City host Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.

Seven of the eight teams to reach the quarter-final stage are already known with one of either City or Liverpool joining League One’s Charlton Athletic and the Premier League’s Leicester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Southampton and Wolves in the next round.

Kick off for this one will be at 8pm and both Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp will use the game as an opportunity to raise the fitness levels of the players who didn’t feature in the World Cup.

That means, the likes of Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah could get a run out this evening ahead of the Premier League’s return on Boxing Day.

We’ll bring you all the team news, build-up and live action from the Etihad Stadium as Man City face Liverpool in the Carabao Cup.