Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was left scratching his head as his side spectacularly succumb to a 5-2 drubbing at home to Leicester City on Sunday. It was the first time ever that a Guardiola-coached team conceded five goals and it has forced the Spaniard into the transfer market again with Benfica and Portugal centre-back Ruben Dias (23) set to sign for a record fee of £65 million this week.
The Blues have been crowned Carabao Cup winners on three consecutive occasions but the strength in depth at Pep's disposal appears limited with a series of first team players unavailable as they prepare to face Burnley at Turf Moor. Four teenagers started last week's tie against Bournemouth where City prevailed 2-1 with 17-year-old striker Liam Delap scoring on debut.
Burnley, meanwhile, advanced to this stage by seeing off Championship club Millwall by two goals to-nil but Sean Dyche's men have struggled at the beginning of the Premier League season suffering back-to-back defeats including a 1-0 loss at home to Southampton last Saturday night.
Team News
Both teams come into this cup-tie with lengthy injury lists and for Burnley their early-season woes have been a direct consequence of their selection issues.
In the absence of a plethora of first team regulars the Clarets have succumb to consecutive defeats at the hands of Leicester (4-2) and Southampton.
Dyche has been unable to call upon Ben Mee, Jack Cork, Ashley Barnes, Jay Rodriguez and Robbie Brady as well as centre-back James Tarkowski who has been linked with a move away to West Ham United and Leicester.
Dale Stephens started his first game for the club at the weekend after signing from Brighton and Hove Albion and he could be joined by further additions as Dyche recently reiterated the urge for new players at the club during this injury crisis.
As for the visitors they have been without talisman Sergio Aguero at the beginning of this campaign and he has recently been joined on the side-line by second striker Gabriel Jesus. Delap stepped up to make his first senior appearance in the cup last week and after coming on during the second-half on Sunday he is expected to lead the line again.
City are still without Joao Cancelo and Ilkay Gundogan but Bernardo Silva and Aymeric Laporte could return to the starting-XI.
Youngsters Zack Steffen, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Tommy Doyle all started in the win over Bournemouth and could continue in the team.
Predicted line-ups
Burnley (4-4-2): Peacock-Farrell; Taylor, Dunne, Thomas, Lowton; McNeil, Brownhill, Benson, Pieters ; Barnes, Vydra.
Man City (4-3-3): Steffen; Walker, Harwood-Bellis, Laporte, Ake; Rodri, Doyle, Foden; Torres, Delap, Mahrez.
Ones to watch
Amid Burnley's troubles at the start of this season Irish centre-back Jimmy Dunne has been solid at the back since being thrown into Dyche's starting line-up and he even managed to score on his debut against Leicester. The 22-year-old has made 10 clearances in two Premier League appearances and at the heart of the home defence he will be responsible for stemming City's attacking tide when they come to Turf Moor.
Liam Delap will more than likely be on the pitch from the start for this game and the son of Rory Delap will go toe-to-toe with Dunne looking to double his tally for the season after a beautiful finish from the edge of the box with his cultured left foot against the Cherries.
Previous meeting
These teams haven't met in this competition in over 20 years since a 6-0 win for City across two-legs in the first round during the 1999/2000 season.
Nonetheless, in recent seasons it would appear the Blues have had their Lancashire neighbours' number winning the last five meetings on a 20-1 aggregate score-line which includes a double over the home side in the league last season and a 4-1 win at Turf Moor during their last trip to this ground.
How to watch
This game will not be shown live in the UK but can be streamed across Europe on beIN Sport Max (France), Sport TV (Portugal) and Arena Sport (Croatia) as well as ViaPlay throughout Scandanavia.