West Ham v Manchester City: Citizens' second string to inflict more pain on beaten Hammers

West Ham v Manchester City 
Tuesday, KO 19:45 
Live on Sky Sports 1

West Ham 
Funny to say it about a cup semi-final, but this is a game West Ham really could do without. Hammered 6-0 in the first leg, their hopes of reaching the final are mroe like the wildest dreams of the most swivelled-eyed Boelyn Ground optimist. A 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Newcastle on Saturday has left Sam Allardyce's team in the relegation zone and Premier League survival is the last goal remaining for the season at Upton Park after a 5-0 FA Cup humiliation at Nottingham Forest a few weeks ago. 

With no chance of making the final, Allardyce will be hoping his team can avoid injuries and save face by either pulling off a hugely unlikely defeat of City (they are 8.615/2 to win) or just avoid a battering. 

Manchester City 
After a few wobbles in the first few months of Manuel Pellegrini's reign, City have really hit their stride, last tasting defeat on November 10 at Sunderland. Saturday's 4-2 defeat of Cardiff saw City breach the century mark for goals scored and this is developing into a season of serious promise for the blue half of Manchester. In the 17 games since losing at the Stadium of Light City have been held just twice - at Southampton in the league and Blackburn in the FA Cup. 

Of course, that dominating run has been achieved with largely the same personnel week-in, week-out, and Pellegrini will surely deploy some of the lesser-seen squad players for Tuesday night's test. 

Match Odds/Man City -1 
Whether Pellegrini plays the reserves or not, the market is convinced that City will win this. The visitors are 1.422/5 to do so, with West Ham 8.615/2 and the draw trading at 5.39/2. 

Before you wade in on Pellegrini's men, it's important to remind yourself that City do not need to win this. Only the most catastrophic result would see them miss the final so the pressure on the Citizens is non-existent.  

Then again, before you think too hard about the likely result, consider the opposition. If you are going to oppose the league leaders and title favourites, would you really want to do so with West Ham? 

While James Tomkins, Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll may return to first team action to add a much-needed dash of quality to the home side, but it seems that Allardyce will play a few of his reserves too. Defensive trio Guy Demel, Winston Reid and Joey O'Brien will all miss the game through injury and City should have enough attacking strength to score a couple of goals at least. Rather than take the 1.422/5 about a straightforward away win, I would back them with -1 handicap at near even money. 

Over/Under 3.5 Goals/Correct Score 
Betfair customers are hot for goals but I'm not sure I can get involved with over 3.5 at 2.26/5. Rather than back that I'd prefer to take the 4.03/1 about unquoted in the correct score market just in case this gets embarrassing again. 

City's results in the domestic cups haven't always matched the eye-catching brilliance of their league matches - witness the low-scoring draws at Newcastle and Blackburn - but the second string got the job done in grand fashion at Wigan (5-0) in the Capital One Cup, at home to Blackburn in the FA Cup third round replay (5-0) and last time out against the Hammers of course. It shouldn't be beyond them to win by a couple of goals against a side that looks beaten before a ball has been kicked and doesn't really want to be there in the first place. 

Recommended Bet 
Back Man City -1 @ 2.021/1