FAN REPORT – City Strike While The Irons Are Hot

By Scott Davies

City welcomed West Ham in the League Cup for the first time since 1964. Leicester beat them on that occasion and went on to lift the trophy that season.

Inler was the only player to start from the Stoke game with the Tinkerman ringing the changes, re-introducing Dodoo to the team following his Cup heroics last round and his brief appearance at Bournemouth.

West Ham only made 3 changes from the weekend so were not taking the fixture lightly and they have been kings of the road recently, beating Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City on their travels.

City started brightly and were 1 up on 6 minutes after Dodoo once again stole the limelight with a superb low finish from a loose ball that fell kindly to his feet.

Kramaric had a glorious chance to make it 2, but after all his hard work carving through the defence, he tried to be too clever by chipping Adrian, but failed to really connect.

On 27, West Ham levelled. Mauro Zarate created himself space to shoot from 25 yards out which appeared to take a slight deflection off Wasilewski, which was enough to deceive Schwarzer at his near post.

Despite the equaliser, it was all City. There were some superb performances with the back 4 looking extremely steady with Fuchs and Benalouane in particular. Inler had a better game from his previous two and showed some real quality in the middle.

Adrian kept The Irons in the match in the second period with some fine saves, Ulloa and Albrighton testing him. He made a tremendous save from an equally superb Fuchs 30 yard free kick.

West Ham changed their attackers with Carroll being replaced by Payet and later Zarate for Kouyate. City introduced Schlupp, Kante and Mahrez late on with Ranieri looking to win in normal time.

West Ham held on for extra time, but again it was all City. Mahrez should have scored in the first period of extra time, but shot well over as the ball fell to him 6 yards out.

The Foxes continued to push, with Fuchs delivering some quality set pieces and crosses which eventually paid off in the 26th minute of extra time. Fuchs broke down the left and delivered a pin point cross into the penalty spot for King to glide his header past the stranded Adrian to take City into the forth round.

The fans a bit premature with chants of going to Wembley, but let’s enjoy the moment and who knows, we could be finally on our way back to the hallowed turf after more than 15 years.

Man of the Match – Christian Fuchs