Ange Postecoglou hints at changes as Tottenham manager sends Carabao Cup priority message

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has hinted at changes to his side for Wednesday's Carabao Cup tie against Manchester City but insisted he would never prioritise one game over another.

Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City head coach, has suggested he could use "academy players" in the fourth-round clash in north London if he considers it "a risk" to play the first-team.

Postecoglou made eight changes for the last-gasp win over Coventry in the previous round, and expects to be without captain Heung-min Son again, as well as fellow winger Wilson Odobert, who has suffered a "serious" setback in training.

Asked if he would continue his policy of rotation in the Carabao Cup, Postecoglou said: "We'll do similarly to what we've done in all our mid-weeks games, Europe included, [which] is try to pick a team we think will win the game and take into account we did play Sunday.

"Obviously City played on Saturday so we've got to make sure the players we put out there tomorrow are able to compete physically with what's going to be on the other side of the pitch from us.

"The good thing is just about the whole squad's had some kind of football so that means whatever changes we make the players coming in are at a good physical level."

Spurs crashed out in the second-round of last season's competition after Postecoglou made nine changes for a defeat on penalties at London rivals Fulham.

Spurs have not won a trophy for 14 years and many supporters are would like the club to prioritise the Carabao Cup, which City have won in six of the previous ten seasons.

Told that some fans view Wednesday's game as more important than the subsequent fixtures against Aston Villa in the Premier League and Galatasaray in the Europa League, Postecoglou said he would never try to win "brownie points" with supporters by taking one game more seriously than another.

"I'm not a supporter of this club, I'm the manager of this football club & I'd hate to think that any supporter of this football club thinks that I try harder in one game than another," he said. "Supporters can feel what they like, which is the most important game.

"But it would be the biggest injustice for me as a manager if I said, 'We're going to try harder tomorrow than we do at the weekend or we did last weekend'.

"It doesn't work that way.

"You need to separate supporters of a football club with people who have the responsibility of representing it. Our responsibility lies with trying to be the best we can be everyday for our supporters, for everyone who's part of this football club. It's not about trying to gain brownie points. That's not what our role is."