Notts County have concerns over the fitness of captain Mike Edwards.
Defender Edwards has missed County's last two matches after picking up a hamstring problem and he faces a race against time to take on the Premier League giants.
The 30-year-old could make his 500th career appearance should he pull through in time.
Striker Lee Hughes could be restored to the starting XI after making a scoring return to the Magpies side in midweek.
Hughes - back after a calf injury - came off the bench at half-time to bag Paul Ince's men a point in their 1-1 draw at Hartlepool.
Liam Chilvers (knee) is in contention while keeper Rob Burch will hope to be restored in place of Stuart Nelson.
City will be without Adam Johnson for the game after the winger suffered an ankle injury in training.
Micah Richards could come into contention after a back problem, however, while striker Edin Dzeko is set to make his debut in the competition.
Manchester City (from): Hart, Given, Richards, Zabaleta, Boateng, K Toure, Kompany, Boyata, Kolarov, Lescott, Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Vieira, Milner, Y Toure, Silva, Barry, Tevez, Dzeko, Cunningham, Logan, Nimeley.
