Man City beat Hull to enter English League Cup semis

City’s assault on all fronts received a sizeable boost with the news that prolific frontman Sergio Aguero and goalkeeper Joe Hart are in contention to return against Stoke on Saturday after heel and hamstring injuries respectively.

Liverpool ran riot to reach the League Cup semi-finals with a 6-1 thrashing of Southampton on Wednesday in which Divock Origi grabbed a hat-trick and Daniel Sturridge scored twice as the Juergen Klopp juggernaut rolled on.

Hull, who grabbed a late consolation from Andrew Robertson, had knocked out surprise Premier League contenders Leicester City in their last League Cup outing and City boss Manuel Pellegrini was not going to take them lightly.

While Pellegrini acknowledged the important role his whole squad has played in their successful season so far, he admitted the continuing absence of Kompany in particular was a blow to his squad.

“We just watched the game from last season [a 4-1 win] and we played very well”, he said. He gives us possession of the ball, which is a style of play that we like to play and he connects well with De Bruyne, and our other technical players.

The midfielder played 82 minutes as goals from Wilfried Bony, Kelechi Iheanacho and two from De Bruyne were enough to see off the Championship side. “Especially in the first 15-20 minutes, they want to make the difference so it’s important to be good from the start”, Pellegrini said. Sergio Aguero is now the club’s top scorer, although he too is likely to miss the trip due to an injury he picked up in the last game against Southampton.

“We are always trying to progress year after year and in the two-and-a-half years I have been at the club I think we have done that”.

“I don’t think Vincent will be ready soon”, Pellegrini said, “maybe against Swansea but not before. The most important thing is that we are involved in all competitions at this stage of the season”.

“Let’s be fair, we lost on Friday [to Derby]”, Bruce said.

But the natural order remained intact at the Etihad, at least, as the Premier League leaders and competition favourites negotiated a comprehensive passage past Hull on the visitors’ first appearance in the quarter-finals of the competition in its 55-year history.

“The fact is we’ve created plenty of chances but we just haven’t converted enough of them”. Up until 81 minutes, we were in there. We needed to stay in the cup tie.

But in terms of hurting City, at times their defence has looked rocky at best, with silly errors costing them points – Chuba Akpom and Abel Hernandez can definitely punish them should they need to.