Jesus Navas of Manchester City takes on Jason Puncheon and Martin Kelly of Crystal Palace during the Barclays Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Manchester City at Selhurst Park on September 12, 2015 in London, United Kingdom.
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Alan Pardew may have been playing for Crystal Palace the last time they won in the blue half of Manchester, but he had been at Newcastle’s helm when they knocked City out of the Capital One Cup here last season.
Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho, 19, has made six substitute appearances and scored the victor against Palace in their Premier League clash last month. “Bony played well and of course Kelechi was very impressive”, Pellegrini said.
‘It was very important for Kelechi to demonstrate once again that he’s a very good player.
“When you play the final of a cup at Wembley with 90,000 people, I think it’s always a very important cup”.
“It’s not my mentality and, in the first half on Sunday, we didn’t do it. But when you are not able to take the chances and win the game, you must make sure you don’t lose”.
City will now play Championship side Hull in the last eight but Pellegrini is not looking too far ahead.
City have suffered with injuries this season, with Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Gael Clichy, Fabian Delph and Samir Nasri all now sidelined.
Palace pulled back a goal when Damien Delaney hammered home a shot high past Caballero, but the rampant City had the final say when sub Manu Garcia slotted home the fifth after yet another good work from Iheanancho.
Manchester United was eliminated from the League Cup by second-tier Middlesbrough in a penalty shootout on Wednesday in the latest fourth-round shock.
The dour game did not meet Pellegrini’s approval, even if he was satisfied with the grit shown by his team, and he is hoping for a different performance against Palace.
“It’s quite hard [breaking through] because there are professional players who have played in a lot of competitions and a lot of games”.
“I feel much better than after a draw but I don’t think the other games were so much worse than today, the result is the biggest difference”, Klopp said.
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The defender recently returned from knee ligament damage, and now will hear on Thursday how serious Tuesday’s injury to the same knee is. I was pleased we got a point. He is one seemingly unwilling to sacrifice the attacking intent in favour of defensive stability yet it is something he has been criticised for in the Champions League with the calls for an extra central midfielder as regular (and loud) as the booing of the Uefa anthem. “We must focus on our next game which is Norwich”.
