Manchester City are on their way to Wembley after a 3-0 win, 9-0 in aggregate, over West Ham on Tuesday night. The Citizens dominated out of the gates at The Boleyn Ground and Manuel Pellegrini's men made quick work of the Hammers for the third time this season.
Highly touted prospect Marcos Lopes was brilliant for City, collecting two assists on the night. His first came just three minutes into the contest on a cross that found Alvaro Negredo for an easy header. West Ham would settle in for a matter of 10 minutes before the Citizens picked up the attack once again.
Lopes dazzled his way around one Westr Ham defender after another before finding Sergio Aguero who did the rest. The Citizens took a 2-0 lead into the half before Negredo added his second of the match soon after the break.
"It’s easy to think that the game was finished after the 6-0, but I think it was important to reach the final winning all the games as we did," Pellegrini said after the huge victory. "We scored 19 goals and we just conceded one, so I think it was very important today to finish in the same way."
Manchester City are arguably the hottest team in the world at the moment and their attack is getting stronger by the day. More records are set to be broken before it's all said and done, but Pellegrini remains persistent that the job is nowhere near finished. He spoke about his players after the match, noting that Lopes is a talented young player with a great future ahead of him.
"He didn’t impress me because I see him working every day," the manager added, referring to Lopes' Man of the Match performance. "I think he is a very good player, he’s just 18 years old, he has a great future and for him it’s very important to play in the way he did today in our team.”
Agüero has recently rejoined the first team after a stint on the sidelines due to injury, but he's picked up right where he left off scoring goals. His partnership with Negredo is back in full force and the duo have lit up every competition the Citizens have appeared in this season.
"I think that for Kun this match was very useful. He played nearly 60 minutes when he was playing just 20 or 30 minutes in the games before, so it will be for him very useful for the future," Pellegrini explained. "Negredo is in a very good moment. So, I think that now with Dzeko and the return of Jovetic, we are now covered for the next match."
Stevan Jovetic return to action after missing the majority of the season due to a reported hamstring issue. The former Fiorentina standout has struggled to stay healthy since coming to Manchester, but Pellegrini believes he's good to go looking forward. City will face the winner of the second-leg matchup between Manchester United and Sunderland on Wednesday. The Black Cats won the first leg 2-1 at home and they will look to put away United at Old Trafford. Pellegrini reassured everyone after today's match that the final will be a difficult one no matter who advances tomorrow.
"There’s no easy game, if United do get through, we know it will be a tough game, but we’re here and that’s the main thing," he concluded. "A Wembley final is very special. Obviously that’s what we struggle to do, to win trophies and long may it continue. We’ve been in and around competitions over the past three or four years and hopefully it continues."
