“We will go into the big games as the underdogs and tell the lads to enjoy themselves because nobody expects you to get a result”, Allardyce said.
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Joe Hart is back for the Stoke game after recovering from his hamstring injury, but Pellegrini says it may be too soon for Sergio Aguero to make his return from his heel problem.
Liverpool were drawn to face Stoke City in the League Cup semi-finals on Wednesday, opening up the possibility of a final against either Manchester City or Merseyside rivals Everton.
Raheem Sterling has hailed Kevin De Bruyne as Manchester City’s answer to Luis Suarez, after the Belgian netted his ninth goal in 18 matches in the 4-1 League Cup demolition of Hull City. “His ability to change games in City’s favour is there for everybody to see and he’s done it on so many occasions”.
Hull, who grabbed a late consolation from Andrew Robertson, had knocked out surprise Premier League contenders Leicester City in their last League Cup outing and City boss Manuel Pellegrini was not going to take them lightly.
The Spanish playmaker managed 83 minutes on his first start for two months in the 4-1 Capital One Cup quarter-final win over Hull having come off the bench for 15 minutes on Saturday.
De Bruyne joined City from Wolfsburg in an off-season deal worth £54million and has helped his new club lead the Premier League.
And, significantly for City’s hopes of maintaining their position at the top of the Premier League, Spain midfielder David Silva and Ivory Coast forward Wilfried Bony proved they are back to full fitness by helping City thrash Hull to reach the League Cup semi-finals in midweek. “The most important thing is that we are involved in all competitions at this stage of the season”.
The second leg of that semi-final tie will be played at Anfield.
“Yes, of course, because he is a very important player for our team”, he said.
Meanwhile, Hull manager Steve Bruce insists he has no regrets about his team selection at the Etihad.
The 21-year-old Spaniard broke the deadlock in the 20th minute at the Riverside Stadium, wriggling between two defenders and shaping a low shot into the bottom-left corner from the edge of the box.
“Obviously everyone wants to play every game but that can not happen at this level, you have to get rotated at times and that is what happened”. “Then they punished us”.
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But Pellegrini said: “We made the decision last year because we had three players injured and Kelechi (Iheanacho) was one year younger and he was not the player he is today”.
