The latest on Armel Bella-Kotchap, Juan Larios, and Ruben Dias ahead of Southampton vs Man City (Carabao Cup Quarter-Final)

Manchester City travel to the south coast to take on Nathan Jones’ Southampton in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.

The reigning Premier League champions, and four-time winners of the League Cup under Pep Guardiola, come into the tie off the back of an emphatic 4-0 win over Graham Potter’s Chelsea in the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon.

Southampton also come into the tie in higher spirits than recent weeks, after a 1-2 away win against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup third round gave Nathan Jones’ squad a much-needed mental lift after a challenging first few games under their new boss.

With Newcastle United and Manchester United already through to the last-four of the competition after beating Leicester City and Charlton Athletic respectively, pressure is now on Man City to follow in the footsteps of their league rivals to the later stages of the EFL Cup.

Ahead of the clash at St. Mary’s, Pep Guardiola and Nathan Jones have provided the latest regarding team news and fitness updates on their respective squads.

Southampton

Manager Nathan Jones confirmed ahead of matchday that both Armel Bella-Kotchap and Stuart Armstrong require more time before returning to the starting line-up for Southampton.

The aforementioned duo will join all of Tino Livramento, Alex McCarthy, Theo Walcott, and former Manchester City Academy full-back Juan Larios on the sidelines.

However, the Saints could look towards new signing Mislav Oršić, who completed his switch to the south coast of England last week.

On the availability of his new signing, Jones said, “That’s a daily thing we have to assess. Obviously, he hasn’t played much football since scoring the winner in the World Cup third/fourth play-off so we’re just going to have to assess that because what we don’t want to do is push him too early.”

Manchester City

As for Manchester City, Pep Guardiola has a much more favourable look to his treatment table, with only Ruben Dias ruled out of the Carabao Cup quarter-final tie through injury.

The Portugal international centre-back watched on from the stands of the Etihad Stadium at the weekend, as he continues to recover from a muscular injury sustained with his country during the closing stages of their World Cup campaign in December.