23 min: … so that’s two massive one-on-one chances for Newcastle now. For all that City have been the better team, the visitors could easily be leading, their first-leg deficit halved. But here we all are.

21 min: Another big chance for Newcastle, and another fine Trafford save. This time it’s Gordon, sent into space down the inside-left. He tries to dink over the keeper, but Trafford stays tall and swats away.

20 min: Now it’s Marmoush’s turn to try his luck from distance. Another deflected shot, another corner. Newcastle only half clear, and Semenyo whistles a low drive inches wide of the left-hand post. Ramsdale had it covered.

18 min: Ait-Nouri barrels down the left and has a dig that’s deflected off Burn. The resulting corner leads to some pinball, and Foden’s shot is blocked. Then Semenyo is released down the right by Foden, and his cross, fired low and hard through the six-yard box, is missed by O’Reilly at the far post. Inches away from 2-0. No way is this ending 1-0.

16 min: Foden comes sliding in on Hall. One of those that looks worse than it actually is. The referee calms everyone down quickly enough. After the restart, Ramsey shins an ambitious 25-yard effort 25 yards over the bar.

14 min: Newcastle, who might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, continue to press hard in the hope of forcing a City mistake. Others of a black-and-white persuasion argue for a less bellicose approach. “Can we just shake hands and call it quits and this point?” sighs Paul Waggott. “A thin squad needs a rest and I’ll eat my hat if we can win 4-1 away from home this year. Handshake, smile, cuppa. Bish bash bosh.”

12 min: … so having said that, City nearly make it two, Reijnders swivelling down the inside left and whipping a high cross-cum-shot across goal that Ramsdale does very well to fingertip away. The ball may even have shaved the right-hand post as it flew wide. It’s been an entertaining start; this competition owed us something after last night. Quits already.

11 min: Newcastle have clearly decided that they may as well go for it now. Trippier hares down the right and loops long for Woltemade in the middle, but Trafford is able to sort out the situation again. A decent response to such a painful early blow.

9 min: A huge chance for Newcastle to immediately get back into the tie. Gordon spins into space down the right. It’s two on one in the middle! Gordon rolls a pass infield for Willock, who tries to round Trafford but fails, and the keeper claims. A fine save, but had Willock flicked the ball further left, Hall was on hand to roll home.

6 min: Newcastle can’t get any meaningful time on the ball at all. When they do momentarily snaffle it, Thiaw Gordon instantly hands it back.

5 min: Newcastle can’t get any meaningful time on the ball at all. When they do momentarily snaffle it, Thiaw instantly hands it back. An early pattern set.

3 min: City get hold of the ball and keep it awhile. No mean feat seeing how crowded the middle of the park is.

1 min: Trippier’s first act of the evening is a fine block of O’Reilly’s shot, the City man having drifted in from the left.

Newcastle get the game started. They’re chasing down a two-goal deficit.

The teams are out! Manchester City in their famous sky blue, Newcastle United in their equally storied black and white stripes. City kept their visitors waiting in the tunnel for four minutes before eventually deigning to emerge from their dressing room. Toon captain Kieran Trippier’s face was a picture, slipping back and forth between mild amusement and Roy Keanesque fury. A few of Trippier’s buttons were pressed in combination there, so let’s see whether that little prank was a good idea or not. We’ll be off in a minute.

Post-match optimism, in that singular Newcastle United style. “Really hoping our Milk Cup title defence doesn’t go too sour here, as I need to front up to this morning’s work breakfast/social in a mood that passes for professional,” begins Chris Paraskevas promisingly.

“Unfortunately I had to reveal the reason I’d potentially be late to said breakfast in front of our entire team yesterday, the explanation going something like this: ‘Boss: I could be about 15-45 minutes late. Chances are I’ll head around at half-time because Lewis Hall will have suffered a season-ending injury and we’ll be down four-nil. But if we go to extra time I’ll shoot you a text and let you know. In any case, there’s no way we’re winning this one so I’ll see you guys there. This is a pretty important game: it’s the League Cup semi-final - we’re defending champions!’

“At this point, a little colour drained from my supervisor’s face and you could literally hear tumbleweeds. Don’t think she was too impressed. I so really need Eddie Howe to do me a solid and get Aaron Ramsdale to throw the game early, otherwise I might get sacked.”

(You may be interested to know that Chris’s email carried the heading “My boss thinks I’m an idiot.” Well, we’ve all been there once or twice in our lives, haven’t we.)

Pep Guardiola – who is four from four in previous League Cup semi-finals, seeing off Bristol City, Burton Albion and Manchester United (twice) at this stage – talks to Sky. “The first season [of his City reign] we were out pretty quick, but after we make four in a row … [eyes twinkle] like the Premier League! [laughs] … we are back today in the semi-final … we start the game 2-0 … but Newcastle look to yesterday, and Chelsea-Arsenal are always tight games, so it won’t be an exception today … the best way to defend a result like this is to score more goals … go for it.”

Eddie Howe stays positive on Sky. “A big task for us today … the start of the game will be massive … we’ve got to bring good energy … body language … positive intentions … try to impose ourselves … if we’re at our very best we can give them problems … we need to see really good energy … [our away form] has been mixed … we have been really good in some games and not so good in others … we’re searching for the formula we need to produce consistent results.”

Hope For Newcastle dept. Not only are Manchester City two goals to the good, they’re also coming into this match in a better frame of mind than their opponents. Shipping a two-goal lead at Tottenham may not be ideal, but it’s a whole lot better than dominating Liverpool for half an hour before crumbling to a 4-1 defeat. So the hosts are strong favourites to progress to the final against Arsenal. However, here’s what happened the last time City and Toon met at the Etihad in the League Cup …

… so should Newcastle pull off another result like that tonight, we’ll be headed to 30 minutes of extra time and penalties! It’s something of a long shot, mind you: that match also stands as Newcastle’s last win at the Etihad, since when they’ve made 11 visits and lost every single time, to the cumulative tune of 37-3. For the record, their last goal here was scored by DeAndre Yedlin in September 2018. So yes, that concludes our Hope For Newcastle section. Erm.

Manchester City make four changes to the side they named for the first leg at St James’ Park three weeks ago. Omar Marmoush, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Nico González and Tijjani Reijnders take the places of Erling Haaland and Max Alleyne, who drop to the bench, and Bernardo Silva and Jérémy Doku, who miss out altogether.

Newcastle make six changes from the first leg. Aaron Ramsdale, Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn, Sandro Tonali, Joe Willock and Nick Woltemade start; Nick Pope, Jacob Murphy and Yoane Wissa are on the bench as a result, while Joelinton, Lewis Miley and captain Bruno Guimarães are absent.