The Carabao Cup semi-final draw takes place this evening (Image: Getty)
The Carabao Cup is reaching its crescendo with both Manchester United and Newcastle clinching their spots in the semi-final draw on Tuesday evening. Manchester City are hoping to continue their terrific record in the competition as they face Southampton this evening while Nottingham Forest and Wolves battle it out for history.
The other two ties were played on Wednesday night with City facing Southampton and Nottingham Forest taking on Wolves. Pep Guardiola made a number of changes to his usual starting line-up with the likes of Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Ederson all dropping to the bench.
But City still had a strong starting XI with Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan, Kalvin Phillips, Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo all included from the off. Guardiola has become a Carabao Cup specialist since arriving at the Etihad, but his team were all sea against Southampton as the south coast side ran out surprise 2-0 winners.
Dean Henderson was the hero on the night for Forest as well as he came to their rescue in the penalty shoot-out against Wolves. Manchester United have now been drawn to face Forest in the semi-final with Southampotn taking on Newcastle in the other tie.
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Newcastle are closing in on their first major title since 1955 (Image: Getty)
Just a couple of weeks until the semi-finals take place with all four teams dreaming of a trip to Wembley.
We'll provide live updates when they take place. For now, follow @DExpress_Sport for live updates throughout the January transfer window and the upcoming Premier League and FA Cup fixtures.
Pep Guardiola admitted "the better team won" after Manchester City were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Southampton in their quarter-final clash.
He said: "We didn't play good, we didn't play well in the beginning. There are many games you can start not good and overcome and we didn't do it.
"When you are not prepared to play this game you arrive one inch late and don't score a goal. When you are prepared you score the goal.
"Today was a bad night, the opponent was better so we have to congratulate them. To win games you have to deserve it and tonight we didn't deserve it."
Pep Guardiola can't watch as Manchester City were knocked out (Image: GETTY)
Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper has heaped praise on penalty shoot-out hero Dean Henderson following their win over Wolves.
He said: "Chuffed for the supporters and players. Lot of ex-players here tonight which we always like. The objective of the tie was to get through. I can't say I loved our performance, I shouldn't be too negative and won't be. But we have to play a lot better than we did over large spells of the game. The game was there for us to take advantage of Wolves.
"We felt ready [for the penalty shootout], we did plan and prepare for it with both Dean Henderson and the outfield guys but even with that it was still a bit of luck of the gods. Dean was fantastic in the 90 minutes keeping the ball out of the net and he carried that over to the shootout.
"In terms of result I said we have to play better. I think Wolves were good on the night and you have to respect that. I felt on Saturday we fell short and got knocked out so it was important not to go out of two cup competitions in a few days."
A reminder that the Carabao Cup semi-finals are played over two legs (I don't know why either).
The two legs will be played in week commencing January 23 and January 30.
Manchester United face Arsenal in the league before their first leg against Nottingham Forest on January 22 and take on Reading in the FA Cup fourth round the following weekend.
Good evening to those tuning in to find out what the two Carabao Cup semi-final matches will be!
Manchester United and Newcastle successfully navigated their quarter-finals against Charlton and Leicester respectively on Tuesday night.
We're now midway through the other two quarter-finals with attention quickly turning to tonight's draw.
Could there be a Manchester derby at Wembley? Can Newcastle go all the way and win their first major trophy since 1955?
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