An early goal from Wilfried Bony should have been the platform for a comfortable win, but it was not until a strike from 19-year-old substitute Kelechi Iheanacho and a Kevin De Bruyne brace in the last 10 minutes that the match was wrapped up.
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City, who host second-tier Hull City on Tuesday, won 3-1 against Southampton at the weekend and having lost to Liverpool and Juventus in their two previous games, goalkeeper Willy Caballero hopes Saturday’s success proves a turning point. Pellegrini added “So, especially in defending, we can not make so many changes”.
“But we continue at the top of the table and are involved in the two competitions that we are playing so far”. Their success over the past few months has been at the back, where up until conceding a goal in a draw against Bristol City two games ago, Hull had won five matches in a row without conceding a single goal.
The Tigers, through to the quarter-finals for the first time in the club’s history, are one of three White Rose sides bidding to make the last four.
“Once you get to this stage Man City will be looking at it and thinking Arsenal are out, Chelsea are out, Man U are out”, Bruce wasquoted saying in Manchester Evening News.
“Silva is very important for the team”, Pellegrini said. There’s a long way to go and the main thing is that, come May, we’re there or thereabouts in the promotion shake-up.
The downside for City was the loss of Sergio Aguero in the second half through injury but manager Manuel Pellegrini later played down the issue, describing it as a mere “kick in the heel” that he did not think was serious.
Stoke boss Mark Hughes has warned his side they must treat Sheffield Wednesday with respect to avoid becoming their next victim. Up until 81 minutes, we were in there. We got to an FA Cup final and I’ve said all along that you should take the cups seriously, and I do, but when you’re a Championship side there’s no big gulf in the squad.
The ESPN FC crew give their thoughts on why Manchester City haven’t run away with the Premier League this season.
“If you asked most supporters here what their stand-out moments will be, I am sure a lot would say the trips to Wembley because they had never experienced it before”.
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‘It’s a quarter-final of the Capital One Cup and it’s a big game for us all so we’ll all be chomping at the bit to play.
