Man United travel to the Etihad Stadium to face their local rivals Man City, looking to overturn a 3-1 deficit and reach the 2019/20 Carabao Cup Final. We've previews the Manchester Derby below where you can also take advantage of Betway's BetYourWay special for the game here where you'll get a £5 free bet when you place a £5 BetYourWay bet on the game.
Goals from Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and an unfortunate Andreas Pereira own goal gave Man City a convincing 3-0 lead in the first leg at Old Trafford before Mr. Reliable, Marcus Rashford, gave the Red Devils a glimmer of hope by pulling one back. Evidently since the first leg, Ole Gunnar Solskjær has had to deal without the Englishman after picking up a stress fracture against Wolves in the FA Cup and is expected to be out for at least two months, ruling him out of the second leg. Betway have Man United at 6/4 to lose and not score at the Etihad in the second leg.
Since the first leg Man City have continued their fine form, remaining undefeated in the league in the four games they have played including a 6-1 thumping at Aston Villa and an impressive 1-0 win at the almost impenetrable Bramall Lane. Sergio Agüero has been Pep Guardiola's main man during this period, in fact the Argentinian has been directly involved in more goals since the first leg than any other player across both sides. Agüero has scored six goals during this period including a hat-trick against Aston Villa, Bookmakers Betway have the striker at 9/4 to score the opening goal on Wednesday and at 8/15 as an anytime scorer.
Man United on the other hand have been in inconsistent form; winning three and losing two since their first leg defeat including a first loss at Old Trafford to Burnley since September 1962. In fact that loss against Burnley inflicted Ole Gunnar Solskjær's twelfth Premier League defeat since getting the permanent job at Man United, overtaking the number of wins (11) that he has achieved during that period. It's safe to say that a lot of fans are losing patience with the Norweigian and a semi-final win against your biggest rivals would certainly help to ease some of the pressure, Betway have Man United at 40/1 to pull off a miracle and win 3-0 at the Etihad.
Team News
As mentioned previously, the biggest loss for Man United will be their star striker, Marcus Rashford, who is potentially facing a two-month absence from first-team football after suffering a double stress fracture in his back.
The England international will join Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba on the sidelines, with the duo not expected back until late February with a knee and foot injury respectively.
Man City, on the other hand, were bolstered with positive news after the surprise return of Aymeric Laporte in their 1-0 win over Sheffield United.
Leroy Sané is the only guaranteed absentee from Pep Guardiola's side after rupturing his Cruciate Ligament against Liverpool in the Community Shield at the beginning of the season.
John Stones & Benjamin Mendy are two others that have just recently returned from injury and missed out last week against Sheffield United.
Ones to Watch
Man City will be wanting to do what it is that they do best on Wednesday and that is scoring goals and killing the game off as soon as they can and who better to do that for them than Sergio Agüero? As previously mentioned the Argentinian has scored in his last five consecutive games for Man City across all competitions, netting a total of eight times during that period. In fact Agüero has a fine record against the Red Devils scoring nine goals in the fourteen games that he has faced them in across all competitions.
There's no two ways about it for Man United, they need goals on Wednesday and they need at least two if they want any chance of reaching the final. Without Marcus Rashford the onus for those goals will land on striking partner Anthony Martial, who is in a bit of a dry spell at the moment scoring just two goals in his last seven appearances for the club. But Martial is no stranger to goals against the Citizens, netting two in his last four games against them and he will undoubtedly be wanting to add to that tally this week.
Betway have Sergio Agüero and Anthony Martial at 8/15 and 13/5 to score anytime during this fixture. A reminder that you can take advantage of Betway's BetYourWay special for the game here where you'll get a £5 free bet when you place a £5 BetYourWay bet on the game.
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