Manchester City suffer major blow ahead of Newcastle United clash as suspension adds to injury woes

Manchester City will be without a couple of first-team regulars when they travel to St James’ Park on Wednesday night. Both teams begin their respective Carabao Cup journeys on Wednesday as last year’s runners-up host a City side that have won four of the last six editions of the tournament.

However, if City want to lift the League Cup trophy for the 8th time, they will have to beat Newcastle without a couple of their key players. One of those that will miss Wednesday’s game is Rodri after the Spaniard was shown a red card during their win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The midfielder was dismissed after grabbing Morgan Gibbs-White around the neck and will serve the first of a three game domestic ban on Wednesday night. Despite playing most of the second-half without Rodri, City were able to repel Forest and claim a 2-0 win, just days after beginning their Champions League campaign against Crvena Zvezda at the Etihad Stadium.

Kevin De Bruyne will also miss Wednesday’s game with a hamstring injury. De Bruyne has made just two appearances for City this season and is expected to be out until the new year.

Similarly, John Stones has missed the majority of City’s season to date, save for an appearance in their defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield.

Bernardo Silva is also doubtful for this week’s game having sustained a leg injury in their Champions League opener in midweek. Silva wasn’t included in Pep Guardiola's matchday squad for the win against Forest and isn’t expected to feature against the Magpies.

Guardiola may be able to call on Mateo Kovacic, however, with the Croatian closing in on a return to action after injury. Speaking about the midfielder, Guardiola said: "Kova is almost there, he's in the last part of his recovery. We need the injured players back, because we have a lot of games and cannot play with the same players."

Guardiola has previously admitted that he may rest a few players for the visit to St James’ Park with both Premier League and Champions League duties to manage in a hectic upcoming schedule.