Manchester City team news: Pep Guardiola to welcome back Benjamin Mendy for Carabao Cup clash vs Burton Albion

Kevin De Bruyne could feature in a heavily changed team, with the aggregate score 9-0 in the Premier League champions' favour

Pep Guardiola has been without Benjamin Mendy since November (Getty)

Benjamin Mendy could be on the bench for the second leg of Manchester City’s Carabao Cup semi-final against Burton at the Pirelli Stadium.

The French left-back has been out since November following knee surgery but has been training for the past week and is nearing a return. Captain Vincent Kompany remains on the injury list.

Manager Pep Guardiola is set rotate his squad but has confirmed playmaker Kevin De Bruyne will be among the senior players to feature. Goalkeeper Aro Muric and midfielder Phil Foden are set to come in.

And the Spaniard insists the game will not be a pointless exercise despite having such a big aggregate advantage.

“We start the game 9-0. It’s unusual for a semi-final but the approach is to improve every single game, so it can help us to improve what we want to do,” said the City boss.

“The last game was not perfect in understanding the way to attack. The way we defend and how we attack (needs to be) more fluent. That’s what I want to see on Wednesday.”

Provisional squad

Benjamin Mendy is set to return for Manchester City can play (Getty)

Muric, Ederson, Danilo, Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Laporte, Garcia, Zinchenko, Delph, Mendy, Sandler, Garcia, Gundogan, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, D Silva, B Silva, Sane, Foden, Sterling, Mahrez, Aguero, Jesus, Nmecha.

PA