Manchester City strengthen ahead of Carabao Cup semi-final second leg with Newcastle United - new rule could benefit them again
A new rule that came into effect for the EFL Cup this season allows players to represent two teams in the competition in a single season.
This change allowed Manchester City to deploy new signing Antoine Semenyo in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Newcastle United on Tuesday night.
Naturally, Semenyo continued his rich vein of goal-scoring form, bagging one goal and having another controversially chalked off.
This new rule comes just a couple of years after Newcastle had to field Loris Karius in the Carabao Cup final because Martin Dubravka had already represented Manchester United in the competition, so Newcastle got bitten twice by this rule change.
Crystal Palace have pressed the self-destruct button
This afternoon, Oliver Glasner dropped bombshell after bombshell in his Crystal Palace press conference, admitting that he's leaving the club at the end of the season, that Jean-Philippe Mateta could also leave this month and crucially, that Manchester City are closing in on the signing of Marc Guehi.
Newcastle were famously linked with a move for Marc Guehi in 2024, but weeks of mind games by Crystal Palace co-owner Steve Parish resulted in the deal collapsing. In 2025, Liverpool tried to sign the England centre-back, only for that deal to fall apart also.
Now it looks like Pep Guardiola is going to be the beneficiary, which will mean that Manchester City are set to be even stronger heading into the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.
Marc Guehi is set to move to Manchester City for a third of what Newcastle were willing to pay
Guehi's move is set to cost Man City just £20 million. An absolute bargain when you consider Newcastle were ready to offer over £60 million just 18 months ago.
Man City already have a two-goal advantage going into the second leg. Combined with Newcastle's terrible record at the Etihad and now the fact that they are strengthening their squad even further, it's probably safe to say that our Carabao Cup dream is over.
Stranger things have happened, sure, but we are Newcastle United; stranger things only happen against us.
