Sunderland vs Manchester City – League Cup – Preview

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Sreya

Manchester City will travel to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland in the third round of the Football League Cup on Tuesday, 22nd September. Manchester City will look to bounce back from their loss against West Ham United in the weekend, while Sunderland will hope to cause an unlikely upset.

While Manchester City started extremely strongly in the Premier League, they have stuttered in the past week, losing against Juventus and West Ham, defeats which have raised questions among fans and pundits alike. Sunderland, meanwhile, have made yet another disastrous start to their campaign. Their 2-0 loss at AFC Bournemouth in the past weekend took them to the bottom of the league table and it appears that this will be another long season for the Black Cats, when they will struggle spectacularly.

Team News

Younes Kaboul is suspended for Sunderland after being sent off at Bournemouth at the weekend. Skipper John O’Shea, who missed that trip through illness, is available, but Adam Matthews (ankle) is still out.

Eliaquim Mangala is a doubt for City after being taken off against West Ham and David Silva has a calf problem. Vincent Kompany is unlikely to be risked as well. Pablo Zabaleta could feature in the matchday squad, as the Argentinian is close to returning from his month-long knee injury. Young forwards Kelechi Iheanacho and Patrick Roberts could feature, as could Spanish full-back Pablo Maffeo.

Sunderland Possible Starting Lineup: Costel Pantilimon, DeAndre Yedlin, Wes Brown, Sebastian Coates, Patrick van Aanholt, Jack Rodwell, Jordi Gomez, Ola Toivonen, Jeremain Lens, Fabio Borini, Germain Defoe.

Manchester City Possible Starting Lineup: Joe Hart, Pablo Maffeo, Nicolas Otamendi, Martin Demichelis, Pablo Zabaleta, Yaya Toure, Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Patrick Roberts, Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero.

Thoughts From Both Camps

“We’ve got to pick ourselves up now. We’ve got two big games coming up this week. It’s one step forward and two steps back at the moment, but we’ve got to keep plugging away. We’re home against Man City so hopefully we can do something good there.”

– Jack Rodwell, Sunderland.

“In the last two games we didn’t play with the concentration or intensity we had shown in the first five games. It was a difficult week with the Champions League and then losing today [Saturday]. There’s a long time to go and we must show a good reaction on Tuesday.”

– Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head statistics, Manchester City have won 48% of its matches against Sunderland. Although Pellegrini will not have his strongest eleven at his disposal, Manchester City are likely to win with a 3-0 margin.