Manchester City host Brighton in the Carabao Cup fourth round

Both teams produced strong results in the previous round

Manchester City reached this stage with a 5:0 win over Norwich City. Brighton eliminated Manchester United 3:2. Those results show why the fourth-round match cannot be treated as a routine opportunity to rest an entire starting team.

Floyd Samba scored twice on his Manchester City debut against Norwich. Rayan Cherki, Allan and Ryan McAidoo added the other goals, while Norwich did not register a shot on target.

City are the home side and will be expected to have more of the ball. Brighton have already shown that they can score three times against a major opponent in this competition, so their previous result gives the visitors a clear reason for confidence.

Brighton are assessing several players

Brighton are checking whether Yankuba Minteh and Mats Wieffer have recovered sufficiently from their knee injuries to play against Manchester City. Ferdi Kadioglu and Chema Andres are also being assessed separately, and no starting place has been confirmed.

Brighton’s route through the previous round also showed their ability to respond during a match. They trailed Manchester United by two goals before Charalampos Kostoulas scored before half-time, Pascal Gross equalised and Maxim de Cuyper completed the comeback.

Kostoulas also supplied the pass for the winning goal. That sequence gives City a clear warning that Brighton can change a match after falling behind.

One winner will reach the quarter-finals

The match begins at 19:30 GMT at the Etihad Stadium. It is a single-match knockout game, and a draw after 90 minutes would lead to penalties rather than extra time.

The winner will join the other seven quarter-finalists in the next draw.

The confirmed team sheets will provide the final answer on rotation and the players returning from injury.