Tottenham v Man City: Pep Guardiola admits team 'in trouble' as injury list grows during League Cup loss

City suffer 2-1 defeat to Tottenham as Liverpool and Arsenal advance

Manchester City's Savinho is carried away on a stretcher after sustaining an injury as manager Pep Guardiola looks on during the League Cup match against Tottenham. Reuters

Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City are in trouble after they suffered more injury woes during their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup, leaving them with only 13 first-team players available.

Already without Kyle Walker, Rodri, Oscar Bobb, Jeremy Doku, Kevin de Bruyne and Jack Grealish for the fourth-round tie, Manuel Akanji was withdrawn ahead of kick off before Savinho was carried off on a stretcher. Savinho hurt his ankle and was in tears as he was carried off the field in the 63rd minute.

With as many as seven changes from the side that beat Southampton 1-0 at the weekend, City were opened up early. Dejan Kulusevski picked out Timo Werner in the box, and the German striker lashed the ball into the net for his first goal of the season.

Pape Matar Sarr got the second in the 25th minute after the ball found its way to him outside the penalty area following a well-worked corner, and the Senegalese midfielder curled it inside the right-hand post.

City pulled one back in first-half stoppage time as Matheus Nunes connected with a cross from Savinho to score with their first effort on target.

It was a rare defeat for City and Guardiola said problems are mounting before Saturday's Premier League trip to Bournemouth, which will be followed by a Uefa Champions League fixture at Sporting.

"We are 13 players [available] so we are in real difficulty," Guardiola said.

"The guys that play, they finish most of them with problems and we'll see how they recover.

"I think when we are in trouble, like we are because in nine years it never happen this situation with many, many injuries for many, many reasons. In these situations, the players they make a step forward and they are more together than ever and they will try to do this week in this short time to recover.

"It's tough. Akanji yesterday, I didn't know it, in the last action felt something in the muscular part of his body and today in the warm-up he didn't feel good. He said he could take a risk and I said 'no, no risk'.

"Ruben [Dias] is struggling sometimes as well in some moments. It's been getting more difficult game by game, but maybe one day we will arrive altogether.

"That's why the guys who are here and making an effort to be with us, fighting to be with us and playing with pain and focus for us, these guys I will not forget it."

Manchester United hit five

Ruud van Nistelrooy enjoyed a winning start as interim Manchester United manager as his team defeated Leicester 5-2 to reach the League Cup quarter-finals.

Casemiro's stunning effort into the top corner opened the scoring before Alejandro Garnacho swept home Diogo Dalot's cross.

Bilal El Khannouss pulled a goal back for the Foxes. However, Bruno Fernandes' deflected free kick restored United's two-goal cushion before Casemiro slammed home his third goal in two games.

Conor Coady grabbed another consolation for Leicester but United were not done yet.

Fernandes rounded off the scoring when he pounced on a short back-pass to round Danny Ward and fire home.

It was a satisfactory result for Van Nistelrooy who was thrust into the role of caretaker boss after the sacking of Erik ten Hag following a dreadful start to the season.

Sporting coach Ruben Amorim is the man the English giants have targeted to take over but are still in negotiations with the Portuguese champions to agree compensation for the 39-year-old head coach.

"I came here as an assistant to help the club. I'm helping as long as I'm needed and in the future, in any capacity, I'm here to help the club build towards the future," said Van Nistelrooy.

"The reaction of the players was excellent. They deserve the credit for a good win and I'm happy the crowd goes home with a nice night of football."

Manchester United face Tottenham in the last eight.

Liverpool made to fight

Liverpool made it through with a 3-2 win over Brighton thanks to a double from Cody Gakpo.

The Netherlands international scored in the 46th and 63rd minutes at the Amex Stadium, while Luis Diaz added a third in the 85th after Brighton had pulled a goal back through Simon Adingra.

Liverpool held on after Tariq Lamptey scored Brighton's second goal in the 90th minute and will need to make another trip to the south coast in the last eight to play Southampton.

Liverpool have won the League Cup a record 10 times, most recently last season with a victory over Chelsea in the final.

Meanwhile, Newcastle defeated Chelsea 2-0 thanks to Alexander Isak's close-range strike and an own-goal by Axel Disasi and next face Brentford, while Crystal Palace – fielding American goalkeeper Matt Turner for his debut and his first club appearance since April 2 for Nottingham Forest – defeated Aston Villa 2-1 thanks to goals by Eberechi Eze and Daichi Kamada. Jhon Duran netted for Villa.

Palace's reward is a last-eight match against Arsenal, who won 3-0 at second-tier Preston after goals by Gabriel Jesus, Ethan Nwaneri and Kai Havertz.