Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has played down their favourites' tag going into the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea.

He is wary of a backlash from Chelsea after they suffered a record defeat under Roman Abramovich when the sides met on February 10.

"In that moment I was so happy to beat them 6-0, but now in this moment I would prefer not to have beaten them 6-0," admitted Guardiola, who has stressed to his players the danger of a Chelsea side out for revenge.

"I don't like to play in a short period of time when you've beaten them by so much," he said. "They are incredible professional players, they are proud, they will do extra.

"When we lost there and when we won here, my opinion of Sarri and his teams is always high. When we reviewed the game against us, maybe people don't believe me, but they did incredible things.

"The first goal was a mistake, they were not paying attention. The (third) one (Ross) Barkley made a mistake. The second one, Sergio (Aguero) scores an incredible goal.

"When that happens it's tough for the managers and the teams. But they did many, many good things. That was my feeling. I've spoken to my staff and they had the same opinion.

"They played good, but we were so clinical in that game. With our four or five chances, we scored three or four goals."