Boss Pellegrini confident of Wembley date

MANCHESTER City boss Manuel Pellegrini is confident his side can tonight turn around its Capital One Cup semi–final against Everton.

City hosts the Toffees in the second leg of the semi–final tonight needing to overcome a 2–1 deficit to claim a place in next month’s final.

This will be the third meeting between the two clubs in three weeks: they played out a goalless draw in the league. Pellegrini is hopeful of the upper hand this time.

The Chilean said: “I am sure if we repeat what we did against Everton here in the last game in the Premier League, especially the last 45 minutes, we are going to score goals. But it’s important to concentrate on defending because they have very dangerous attacking players.”

The match, at the recently–expanded 55,000–capacity Etihad Stadium, isn’t yet a sell–out but, with 48,000 tickets sold by yesterday, attendance will still be City’s largest for a domestic cup-tie since 1981. If the crowd goes above 50,000, as the club hope, it will be City’s biggest cup attendance for 41 years.

Everton go into the game with an advantage and the extra incentive of an all–Merseyside final against Liverpool to aim for, after Jurgen Klopp’s Reds beat Stoke 6-5 on penalties last night.