Liverpool travel to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City in the first leg of their Carling Cup semi final tonight.

The Reds will be looking to avoid a repeat of the 3-0 defeat they suffered at the hands of City earlier this month, with a first appearance at Wembley in 16 years at stake.

Team News

Man City will be without captain Vincent Kompany who starts a four-match ban following his sending off against Man Utd at the weekend. Fellow centre back Kolo Toure is also unavailable as he’s on duty with the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations.

This leaves Roberto Mancini with little option but to play youngster Stefan Savic alongside Joleon Lescott at the heart of their defence.  Yaya Toure is also on international duty so misses out, with Nigel De Jong likely to replace him in midfield.

Liverpool are able to call upon their talismanic skipper Steven Gerrard once more. After a long injury lay-off, the England midfielder has eased himself back into first team action and Kenny Dalglish is likely to start him tonight.

Luis Suarez is of course serving his eight-game ban so won’t take any part, and Stewart Downing is a doubt to play following his arrest for an alleged assault on an ex-girlfriend last weekend.

Liverpool have no added injury concerns to report, with Lucas still the main long-term casualty on the treatment table.

Likely Line-ups

Man City:

Hart

Richards     Savic     Lescott      Clichy

Barry     De Jong

Johnson                                               Silva

 Aguero       Balotelli

Liverpool:

Carroll

Bellamy        Gerrard             Kuyt

      Adam      Henderson

Enrique     Agger     Skrtel     Johnson

Reina

Predicted Score

Man City 2-1 Liverpool:  If, as expected, both sides field close to their full-strength starting elevens then City should just edge this one. If Silva and Aguero play it’s hard to see them not scoring, but even their replacement’s are more than capable!

The League game eight days ago was far closer than the scoreline suggested and the visitors could nick an away goal with Kompany in the stands. A 2-1 defeat for Liverpool would not be a bad scoreline by any stretch of the imagination, with away goals crucial in these two-legged ties.

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