Manchester City takes on London based West Ham United in the semifinals of the Capital One Cup, looking to do better than their arch rivals.

Preview: Can Manuel Pellegrini’s side secure a home win?

The plethora of injuries on both sides might make this match a less of a spectacle. Big Sam, however, surely will be looking forward to trying to hurt his rich opponent’s pride. West Ham has been struggling in the Premier League to say the least. They sit second from bottom, having collected only 15 points from 20 games. If their league home form is an indicator of their form at home in the Cup competitions, the day could turn out to be a long one for Allardyce. They have only won two home games in the Barclays Premier League.

 

Their sole away win in the league came against Tottenham Hotspur. Allardyce had beamed that day. Manuel Pellegrini’s ruthless players (despite their inefficiency at times) are nonetheless a different animal and can take them apart if they are willing to. Sergio Aguero, Stevan Jovetic, Martin Demichelis, Jack Rodwell, Micah Richards and John Guidetti are all out for team from Manchester. Dedryck Boyatta is suspended.

Winston Reid, James Collins, Andy Carroll, Mark Noble, Ricardo Vaz Te and James Tomkins are all out for the London club. Kevin Nolan is suspended. Roger Johnson moved on loan from Wolves to help out Allardyce’s side and might start as well. The Hammers will have to overcome the blows suffered in a horrendous 5-0 defeat to Norwich recently in the FA Cup. City meanwhile will be coming into this one on the back of a rather strange draw against Blackburn in the FA Cup, 1-1.

Cup competitions are usually straightforward affairs as one team has to lose. However, at this stage, the matches of the Capital One Cup are two-legged. This means that Sam Allardyce could field a defensive lineup to thwart City; this would make the second leg a more evenly balanced affair.
Pellegrini offered Allardyce some comfort according to Sky Sports:

“I think that in this job as a manager - in any club, in every part of the world - you are always under a lot of pressure.

When the results are not the results the club wants, maybe sometimes it can be more nervous, but I think he (Allardyce) is doing very good work in West Ham so I don't think he will have any problems.”

Also, he downplayed West Ham’s poor showing against the Canaries:

"I am absolutely sure (Wednesday) will be a very different game to what they played on Sunday.
We are going to have to have a very good performance to try to win against West Ham.

It is very important to play the first leg here at home. We will try to win and if we can score more than one goal at home it will be very important also for the second leg."

Where to watch the match: Live Streams, Live Scores, Start Times, TV Channels:

Watch Manchester City vs. West Ham United live on Wednesday, January 8, 2014:

In Canada at 14:45 ET on TalkSport Radio, beIN SPORTS Play Canada

In the UK at 19:45 BST on Sky Sports 1 Ireland, Sky Go UK, BBC Radio 5 Live, NOW TV powered by Sky, Sky Sports 1/HD

In the USA at 14:45 ET on SiriusXM FC, beIN SPORTS USA, TalkSport Radio, beIN SPORTS Play

Viewers in India can catch the match on Ten Action.

For the complete TV listings and live scores upon kick-off, visit the Manchester City-West Ham match page.