Manchester City vs Hull City in a Capital One Cup quarter-final

City face Championship outfit Hull City in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday, with Steve Bruce’s side having slipped off top spot in the wake of a 2-0 loss to Derby County on Friday night. Pellegrini said that he will not be making many changes from the side that beat Southampton 3-1 at the weekend.

Countinho, who was once linked with a move to Saints when Mauricio Pochettino was in charge, will be all too familiar to the St Mary’s faithful.

“But we continue at the top of the table and are involved in the two competitions that we are playing so far”.

Andrew Robertson grabbed the late consolation for Hull in the second minute of stoppage time, hitting a delicate chip over Willy Caballero.

City may have rarely threatened the goal of their Premier League hosts, but likewise the former Cup winners were seemingly comfortable with the slender advantage Wilfried Bony’s 12th minute goal had given them.

“It is important to be a solid, consistent team and to recover our normal style of play and that will give us the points we need to win it”.

After suffering defeats against Liverpool and Juventus, City bounced back with a 3-1 victory over Southampton in front of their home fans.

Meanwhile on Teesside, Gerard Deulofeu’s glittering first-half performance put Everton on their way to a 2-0 win against Championship high-flyers Middlesbrough at the Riverside.

“It’s cruel. We’ve had two little chances and within 30 seconds, we’re trying to push forward and we’ve gifted two bad goals away”, Bruce said. They are a big team and we must be ready for every game and every team.

“It won’t be the most important match for our season, but if you go there with your heads down you could be on the other end of a pasting”.

“It’s the first time the club have got to the quarter-final”.

Roberto Martinez’s side, chasing its first trophy since winning the FA Cup in 1995 and its first ever League Cup triumph, controlled the match with an assured display from then on.

“If you asked most supporters here what their stand-out moments will be, I am sure a lot would say the trips to Wembley because they had never experienced it before”.

Caballero, who took over in goal from injured England number one Joe Hart, said: “It was like a call with big attention – Liverpool played really well”.