City 3-1 for League Cup after stroll at Sunderland
MANCHESTER CITY are 3-1 favourites for the Capital One Cup with Hills after putting down a marker on Tuesday night for Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool to follow with their 4-1 success at Sunderland.
A strong City side had matters sewn-up by half-time at the Stadium of Light through a Sergio Aguero penalty and strikes from Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling either side of a Vito Mannone own goal. Ola Toivonen's 83rd-minute effort was always going to be only a consolation.
It was a different story elsewhere on the card for Premier League sides. Swansea lost 1-0 at Championship Hull and Aston Villa, Stoke and Everton only beat respective tier-two opposition Birmingham, Fulham and Reading by single-goal margins (1-0, 1-0 and 2-1). Preston took Bournemouth to extra time (1-1) and penalties (2-2) before succumbing 3-2 on spot-kicks.
In-form top-flight duo Leicester and West Ham also went to extra time at the King Power Stadium (1-1). The Foxes, who won 2-1 at Upton Park last month in the league, prevailed 2-1 in an end-to-end encounter.
Middlesbrough beat Wolves 2-0 to complete the Tuesday scores.
Chelsea, who go to Walsall on Wednesday, are 5-1 second-favourites with United, host Ipswich, at 7-1 and Liverpool, who welcome Carlisle to Anfield, at 9-1. Everton are 10-1 shots with north London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham, who meet at White Hart Lane, at 12-1 and 16-1. It is 20-1 bar these seven.
Chelsea striker Diego Costa has been banned for three matches for violent conduct after an off-the-ball incident in the Blues’ 2-0 win over Arsenal on Saturday.