Lots of predicted lineups amongst the Fanzines/Blogs etc , most of which vary quite a bit from each other. However there is some concensus that the MCFC line-up will include Foden, Mahrez, Danilo, Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus, and not Fernandinho, Aguero or de Bruyne. Bravo is injured, so Pep has to choose between Ederson or 19 year old prospect Muric in goal. There is also some talk of putting Stones into midfield to cover for Fernandinho.
Composite line-up from all articles I've seen so far: Muric (GK), DAnilo, Zinchenko, Kompany, Otamendi (DF), Foden, Diaz, Stones, Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus, Sane
If so, then I'm confident (as long as some or all of the following occur: i) Kompany pulls up injured while marking Whyte who sprints away and scores, ii) Stones gets over cocky and tries some clever footwork while under pressure from Baptiste, loses the ball and Shandon strides forwards and scores, iii) teenage keeper Muric pulls a howler early on to give away a goal and does not recover his composure for the rest of the game, iv) Otamendi gets a bump to the head and goes back to being the hopeless player he was when he first arrived, v) STerling comes on as sub, and hogs every chance MCFC create, but fails to convert any of them, vi) KR forgets that one of the MCFC side is actually from Manchester, and lamps him for being a scouser and gets sent off, vii) the bump on the head turns him into a tactical genius and outwits Pep for the rest fo the game, viii) Tiger's new co-owner has secretly brought in Inter's top striker who comes on as a sub under the code name Slavi Spazov and scores loads, ix) the real Slavi Spazov is annoyed that he has to play under the name Charlie Raglan so scores one of his own when he gets on, x) Kassam accidentally drops his wallet in the home goal mouth so that there is no room for MCFC so squeeze the ball into the goal.)
Sadly, the excitement of victory is shortlived and OUFC are thrown out fo the competition for fielding eleven loan players in the starting, er, eleven
....cup matches can ignite a reversal of poor league form, which is much needed this season.... prediction? Hmmm, how about a three nil home win with beeks grabbing a hat trick? .... maybe thatd be in the realms of hopes, dreams n tombstones, there again ya never know
