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Manchester City afforded itself the luxury of being able to rest a host of first-team players as Pep Guardiola's men recorded a resounding aggregate victory over Newcastle in the League Cup semi-finals.
City carried a 2-0 lead into second leg, and a brace from Omar Marmoush plus a goal from Tijjani Reijnders put Guardiola's men 5-0 up by half-time at the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola left a host of first-team players out of his line-up for the second leg, with Gianluigi Donnarumma, Ruben Dias, Rodri, Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland all among the substitutes.
Rodri, Cherki and Haaland did enter the fray around the 70-minute mark, replacing Antoine Semenyo, Phil Foden and Nico O'Reilly.
All in all, it was a routine evening for City, which should ensure Guardiola's men are perfectly rested for Sunday's trip to Anfield in the Premier League.
Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, John Stones, Bernardo Silva, Savinho and Jeremy Doku all missed the game through injury, and most – if not all – of them will remain sidelined for the visit of Liverpool.
As for Liverpool, it remains without long-term absentees Alexander Isak, Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley, while Jeremie Frimpong will miss the game and Joe Gomez is a doubt.
Ahead of the game, former Liverpool player Michael Owen gave his backing to Reds head coach Arne Slot, who has faced criticism for his team's poor title defense.
Liverpool began the season with five successive wins, but the last league 19 games have yielded just six further victories, leaving the team in a serious battle to secure Champions League qualification.
Despite Liverpool's downturn in form, Owen believes his old club should stick with the Dutchman due to the credit he built up during his first season in charge.
“Liverpool hasn't been consistent but in patches has played very well this season," Owen told talkSPORT. "It (the form) has just been too sporadic
“I am in the ‘Slot in’ camp. It is premature to be thinking about firing him. This is a manager who won the Premier League in his first season, which was incredible.
"If you said to Liverpool fans, when Klopp left, that they would finish fourth (potentially this season) and first over the next two seasons, they would snap your hand off.
“There is always the risk of things falling apart. We saw it when Wenger and Ferguson left. Klopp was there for a long time, and for Slot to come in and continue that and have instant success was very good. It is far too early to be saying Arne Slot out.”
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