Sergio Aguero returns for Manchester City, but no Paul Pogba for Man United in line-ups for Carabao Cup semi-final clash

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Manchester City travel to fierce rivals Manchester United in a mouth-watering Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday night.

The two Premier League giants are the top-flights in-form teams – and you can follow all the action LIVE on talkSPORT.

Guardiola and Solskjaer’s men go head to head on Wednesday

An impressive run of seven wins in nine top-flight matches has seen Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side shoot up the Premier League table and they are now at their highest position at the turn of the year since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as champion at the end of the 2012/13 season.

The Norwegian says United have ‘no excuses’ heading into the clash at Old Trafford as they look to reach a cup final at the fourth time of asking.

Having lost to Pep Guardiola’s men in the final four of the competition last season, the Red Devils went on to lose at the semi-final stage of the FA Cup and Europa League.

Man United are flying at the moment – but so are their opponents City

“The next game is always important but of course a semi-final is a chance to get to the final, to get your hands on a trophy in the next round and for this team it would be a very, very big step getting your hands on a trophy,” the United manager said.

“We’ve developed a lot in the last six months, last 12 months since the last semi in the Carabao Cup so of course it’s not just learning to win semis.

“We’ve also earned the right to feel we can go all the way with our performances.

“We are confident, we are going into the game with good form so there’s no excuses.”

Man City, meanwhile, have won their last four matches in all competitions, with their last a superb 3-1 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge – their best display of the campaign by a long stretch.

Team news

Man United team news

Edinson Cavani is suspended for the semi-final as he continues to serve his suspension for using a racist term last month.

The 33-year-old striker serves the second match of his three-game ban handed down by the Football Association.

Long-term absentee Phil Jones remains sidelined but United boss Solskjaer says he has no other injury concerns, which means Victor Lindelof could return from a back complaint.

Cavani has served one match from his three-match suspension

Man City team news

City have had issues with COVID-19 recently. They had six players unavailable for Sunday’s win at Chelsea and had a match at Everton postponed just after Christmas, but Guardiola accepts they have to manage the situation.

Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus could be back for City after completing a period of isolation following positive COVID-19 tests announced on Christmas Day.

However, Ferran Torres, Ederson, Tommy Doyle and Eric Garcia are all still out.

Aymeric Laporte missed Sunday’s win over Chelsea with a minor hamstring problem and remains doubtful, as does Nathan Ake who was not fit enough to return from a muscle injury at the weekend.