Bristol City Hoping to Produce Shock of the Season

League Cup | Preview

10/01/18

Bristol City Hoping to Produce Shock of the Season

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The English League Cup has reached the semi-final stage and there are only four teams remaining in the competition.

All four teams have Wembley in their sights but Bristol City could not have asked for a more difficult task as they head to the Etihad Stadium to take on Premier League leaders Manchester City in the first leg of their semi-final.

Manchester City will be hoping to build as lead big enough to make the second leg comfortable at Ashton Gate whereas Bristol City will be aiming to cause the biggest upset of the season by taking a lead to their own stadium.

Pep Guardiola’s team went in 1-0 down against Burnley on the weekend in the FA Cup third round but came back strongly in the second half to win the match 4-1 and book their place in the next round.

If Manchester City can match their second half performance form that game in this one, they should have more than enough to win the match.

Trends show Manchester City have lost just one match this season and that came in a meaningless fixture away to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. Qualification to the Round of 16 was already secure prior to that game.

At home, Manchester City have won each of their last fifteen games in all competitions, including the penalty shootout victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the League Cup. They have been scoring goals for fun and Manchester City have netted 18 goals in their last five home games.

Bristol City caused a shock when they dumped League Cup holders Manchester United out of the competition at the quarter-final stage. It was a magnificent performance by Lee Johnson’s team and they deserved the 2-1 win.

However, since then things have not been going very well and trends show Bristol City have won only one of their last five games in all competitions.

The victory came at home in the Championship against Reading but there have been defeats in the Championship against Wolverhampton Wanderers at home and a heavy 5-0 loss at Aston Villa. These results have seen Bristol City drop to fourth in the Championship and they were eliminated from the FA Cup at the weekend, losing 3-0 at Watford.

Bristol City have played just one away League Cup game this season and they defeated Watford 3-2, which was a very good win.

Looking ahead to the potential team news and Manchester City will be without Gabriel Jesus, Vincent Kompany, Benjamin Mendy and Phil Foden who are injured. Sergio Aguero is also a doubt having picked up on knock on Saturday.

Bristol City travel without several players due to injury including Ivan Lulic, Callum O'Dowda, Jens Hegelar, Gary O'Neil, Famara Diedhiou, and Eros Pisano. However, they should be able to name the same team which defeated Manchester United.

They key for Bristol City is to not get blown away in this match and stay in the tie for the return leg at Ashton Gate. That is easier said than done when it comes to playing at Manchester City and expect the hosts to claim a comfortable win, which they can take with them into the second leg.