Manchester City vs Everton
Match: Manchester City vs Everton
Date: January 27, 2016
Stadium: Etihad Stadium, Manchester (England)
Competition: Capital One Cup
Kickoff time: 19:45 (UTC/GMT+0, local time)
It’s a big game for…
Gareth Barry: The ex-Manchester City midfielder is the beating heart of his Everton side. After a less than impressive team performance in a weekend loss to Swansea, Barry will look to galvanise his side into a win against his former club.
Best stat…
21 – The amount of years since Everton’s last piece of silver wear. A 2009 loss to Chelsea in the FA cup final is the closest any Toffee’s side has come to a trophy since a Dave Watson inspired Everton defeated Manchester United in the 1995 FA Cup final at the old Wembley.
Remember when…
Leon Osman casually struck a 25 yard effort in to the top corner on the way to a 2-0 Everton win over City. The March 2013 fixture saw Roberto Mancini’s side lose further ground on rivals Manchester United. Their eventual second place finish saw the demise of the Italian; it also happened to be David Moyes’ last season at Everton.
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini says Willy Caballero will take over from Joe Hart in goal for Wednesday's League Cup semi-final second leg.
Eliaquim Mangala, Vincent Kompany, Aleksandar Kolarov, Wilfried Bony and Samir Nasri remain sidelined.
Everton, who lead 2-1 after the first leg, will be without two key players.
Midfielder Muhamed Besic (hamstring) and winger Kevin Mirallas (tendon) suffered injuries in the Premier League defeat against Swansea on Sunday.
Earlier in January, goals from Ramiro Funes Mori and Romelu Lukaku gave the Toffees a slender advantage.
They last reached the final in 1984, when they lost to Liverpool, while City triumphed in 2014.
What the managers said
City manager Manuel Pellegrini:
"It's the third time we'll play Everton in one month - we know their team.
"The most important thing is to try to play another final at Wembley. That is our target. After we lost to Everton 2-1, I said that if we don't qualify for the final, it's not because of that game but because we can't win at home at least 1-0.
"Maybe Everton haven't been in a final for many years and they will be motivated but our team will do all they can to get there too."
Everton manager Roberto Martinez:
"You want every player to show the mentality of being ready and that the team can rely on that individual. Every player has to have that mentality.
"Disappointments are painful at the moment because results have not been fair in reflecting the efforts and football we have played.
"Psychologically, you have to go through experiences in order to create that resilience to create that winning mentality.
"Getting a big achievement and reach something quite special could help to that positive outlook in our games. It will be an enormous landmark for the club if we can reach the final of the League Cup."
Match facts
Manchester City have only once overturned a semi-final first-leg deficit to reach the final. They beat Middlesbrough 4-0 in 1976, after losing the first leg 1-0. City went on to lift the trophy.
This is only the second time in five League Cup semi-final appearances in which Everton held a lead going into the second leg. They beat Aston Villa in the first leg in 1984, progressing to the final.
The Citizens have never lost at home in a cup competition to Everton (W3 D1), although they last hosted the Toffees in the FA Cup in March 1981.
Romelu Lukaku has scored four goals in five League Cup appearances this season.
In the first leg, Jesus Navas scored his first goal for Manchester City since September 2014 (v Sheffield Wednesday), a wait of 66 games in all competitions for the club.
Everton have won three successive away games in the League Cup this season, after losing each of their previous three.
However, the Toffees have lost five of their past six away games in this competition to sides from the Premier League, the exception being a 4-0 win at Hull in 2009.
Man City have won five of their past six home games in the League Cup, losing the other 2-0 to Newcastle. In those games, they have scored 27 times (4.5 per game).
City have only failed to score in one of their past 26 competitive home matches in the last year (since 25 January 2015) - their 0-0 draw with Everton in the Premier League on 13 January this year.
