Scout Scribbles – Capital One Cup Third Round

Carlos Tevez plays 120 minutes as City suffer a shock home defeat at the hands of Villa. Juan Mata pulls the strings as Chelsea hammer Wolves. Michu is amongst the goals as Swansea scrape past Crawley, while Mauro Boselli bags a brace for Wigan in a 4-1 hammering of West Ham. Here’s the lowdown on last night’s Capital One Cup matches…

Manchester City 2 Aston Villa 4
The main point of note was that Carlos Tevez played 120 minutes, after Villa took City to extra-time before clinching an unexpected victory. With Mario Balotelli also playing from start to finish and Edin Dzeko afforded 46 minutes, Sergio Aguero looks in the driving seat as Roberto Mancini assesses his forward options for Saturday’s trip to Fulham. The likes of Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry and James Milner all started in a strong looking lineup for City but the hosts’ defensive display continue to be a real worry for Mancini…

“Conceding goals is a real problem, we need to work with our defenders because we aren’t defending well at the moment.”

Dimitar Berbatov’s Fantasy owners will be a little more confident after last night’s disaster, with City rolling up to the Cottage this weekend. Balotelli and Alex Kolarov were the ones who grabbed the goals for City last night.

Paul Lambert benched Darren Bent for the Etihad clash and handed Gabby Agbonlahor a chance to impress up top. The forward bagged a brace for Villa, while Charles N’Zogbia staked a claim for a regular role with a goal. Lambert also welcomed back Marc Albrighton from injury; the midfielder provided the assist for his side’s fourth, and Joe Bennett was handed his first start at left-back since joining in the summer.

Chelsea 6 Wolves 0
Roberto Di Matteo handed new right-back Cesar Azpilicueta his first start for the visit of Wolves. With Ryan Bertrand fielded at left-back, Branislav Ivanovic and Ashley Cole were given the night off ahead of the trip to Arsenal. Victor Moses and Lucas Piazon were also part of the first XI, lining up alongside Juan Mata in the attacking midfield three behind Fernando Torres. Mata continued where he left off against Stoke, having supplied the assist for the defender’s winner on Saturday – the Spaniard produced a goal and two assists in the rout, while Torres and Moses both chipped in with a goal and assist apiece. Bertrand and Gary Cahill were also amongst the goals, while Marko Marin returned from a hamstring injury, climbing off the bench to replace Mata late on.

Assistant boss, Eddie Newton, had this to say on Torres…

“Fernando is positive. We talk to all our players and he is very positive. He is feeling a lot sharper, the goals will come. We all believe that. You can’t expect a sudden flood of goals, we want consistency over the season and we feel he will get that.”

Torres would seem likely to start at the Emirates with Newton also confirming that Daniel Sturridge remains 50:50 for the Emirates, while Frank Lampard’s fitness is also a concern.

Leeds 2 Everton 1
Leighton Baines was given the night off for the trip to Elland Road, though Marouane Fellaini was handed the full 90 minutes as the Toffees lost 2-1. Steven Pienaar came on as a sub at the break, while Nikica Jelavic was tentatively eased back into action with a 25 minute appearance from the bench towards the end of the match. Kevin Mirallas and Victor Anichebe kept their places after both scored at the weekend, though it was Sylvain Distin who grabbed the Merseysiders’ goal last night, with Anichebe providing the assist.

Crawley 2 Swansea 3
Michael Laudrup kept Michu and Wayne Routledge in the starting XI. Nathan Dyer served his one-match suspension, while Danny Graham to the bench as Luke Moore led the line. Routledge provided a pair of assist as the Welsh club came from behind to register a win – Michu notched the opener and Graham came on as a second-half sub to also grab a goal for the visitors. Garry Monk, returning from a prolonged back injury, earned Swansea’s winner. Monk started the match alongside new signing Ki in central defence as the Swans’ resources were stretched at the back.

Laudrup was without new winger Pablo Hernandez – he remains a concern for the weekend trip to Stoke with a knee injury sustained against Everton…

“I’m hoping he will be fit…We’ll have a look tomorrow, but it is important that everyone is 100 per cent fit.”

MK Dons 0 Sunderland 2
Craig Gardner and James McClean were the goalscorers as the Black Cats eased into the next round. Martin O’Neill named a strong starting line-up but saw his side reduced to 10 men after Lee Cattermole was dismissed; he will now serve a three-match ban. Steven Fletcher was given the night off as Louis Saha led the line and Adam Johnson returned from injury by climbing off the bench with five minutes remaining. Martin O’Neill had this to say on Johnson’s return…

“I brought Adam on to give him a few minutes on the pitch. The second goal helped make my mind up about that. I wanted to bring him on and make him feel involved again. We’ll see how he is after that cameo and try and get him fit and ready for Saturday.”

Notably, John O’Shea missed the match through injury, although he is expected to be fit for the weekend meeting with Wigan. That forced O’Neill to star Mat Kilgallon and David Meyler as centre backs.

Southampton 2 Sheffield Wednesday 0
Nigel Adkins chose mainly to give his fringe players a run out in last night’s win. Jos Hooiveld returned from a calf problem that saw forced him off early in the Gameweek 4 visit to Arsenal, while Paulo Gazzaniga kept his place in goal, having dislodged Kelvin Davies for last weekend’s game with Villa. The likes of Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Gaston Ramirez were all rested, affording Jay Rodriguez the chance to steal the headlines with a brace.

West Ham 1 Wigan 4
Sam Allardyce changed his back-four and keeper for the visit of Wigan. As a result, there was little of the defensive resilience that has seen the Hammers concede just one goal in their first three Upton Park fixtures as the Latics put four past the London outfit. Although Kevin Nolan was rested, Allardyce still started with the likes of Mark Noble, Matt Jarvis and Ricardo Vaz Te, while summer signing Modibo Maiga grabbed his side’s consolation. Judging by Allardyce’s post-match comments, few of last night’s lineup boosted their first team credentials…

“We made nine changes because I want to see what I’ve got and because a lot of players want to show my what they’ve got but in the end only the younger ones came out with any credit. So did Maiga of course with his goal because I thought it was an excellent strike. The rest of the lads were way below.”

Shaun Maloney, Emmerson Boyce and Arouna Kone were omitted from the Wigan first XI last night, though it was a strong-looking side that made its way to Upton Park. Roberto Martinez handed Mauro Boselli the chance to lead the line and the forward delivered a brace in the 4-1 win. James McArthur provided a pair of assist, while Ryo Miyaichi – handed the 90 minutes – also picked up an assist. Roberto Martinez reserved special praise for Boselli in his post-match comments…

“You then have individual performances of a high quality, including Mauro Boselli who deserved his goals and took them very well. That was really important for him because he’s a goalscorer and I’ve said from the beginning of the season that he looks sharp, is very focused and a player of that stature is going to be very important to us this season.”