Man City duo Aguero & Toure ruled out of Stoke clash

Club record signing Kevin De Bruyne has impressed in a variety of forward roles in Pellegrini’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation, with Yaya Toure also occasionally redeployed in the central attacking slot vacated by the former Valencia man.

Pellegrini, who is set to restore goalkeeper Joe Hart to his starting line-up after two weeks out with an ankle injury, said: “I think the best way to do it is not to think about it and stay focused on your next game”.

“As you could see, we have no problems with matches against Manchester City”, he told his post-match press conference at St Mary’s.

Victory over Hull secured a fourth League Cup semi-final in seven years – having won it for a third time in 2014 – and despite labouring against the Sky Bet Championship side Pellegrini was satisfied.

Saturday’s meeting could prove to be a dress rehearsal for the League Cup final after both Stoke and City came through their midweek quarter-finals before being handed last-four ties with Liverpool and Everton respectively.

City beat Hull 4-1, while Gerard Deulofeu starred for the Toffees as they won 2-0 at Middlesbrough.

“Teams come and sit in against us because they know the quality we possess throughout the squad”.

“I think we did okay so we can talk about this and then carry on to prepare for the game against Manchester City on Saturday”.

Although the Argentine hobbled off in the latest league success over Southampton, the consensus was that this was nothing more than “a harmless bump on the heel”.

Stoke may be relieved that Aguero may not be back but Belgian winger de Bruyne is arguably one of the most in-form players in Europe and can win a game all by himself. I wasn’t actually involved but that was a bad day at the office.

“The players will be looking to go there with the right mentality and try to get a grip from the beginning”.

There was further gloom, however, for Southampton as second-half substitute Ibe drilled home from 20 metres to make it five before Origi completed his hat-trick with an 86th-minute header.

Pellegrini was impressed with his side, particularly given the number of games they have played in a short space of time.

“It’s most important. That’s what big players do and we’re happy to have him at this football club”.

“It was also important for Bony to play for 65 minutes after he only recovered from a muscle injury a few days before Saturday”.

“We are all very happy to continue in all competitions but we’re not thinking about winning all four competitions – always just the next game”.