Manchester City – Everton. Mark O’Haire’s prediction

Manchester City lock horns with Everton for the third time in 22 days but Wednesday night’s match-up is the most important with the two clubs now just 90 minutes away from the Capital One Cup final at Wembley.

The Toffees hold a deserved 2-1 first leg advantage from Goodison Park and Roberto Martinez’s men are now eyeing up a first trophy in 21 years. In fact, the Merseysiders have reached just one cup final in that time, an FA Cup defeat to Chelsea in 2009.

Everton will hope to take a similar blueprint to the one that held City to a goalless draw on 25 January at the Etihad. It was the only time in 26 competitive home fixtures that the Citizens had failed to find the back of the net but the chances of a repeat scenario appear slim.

The Toffees have seen both sides score in eight of their 14 away days this season with a total goals haul of 41 – that’s a 2.92 goals-per-game average. And it wouldn’t be a major surprise to see them get in on the act again here. After all, 12 of the past 16 semi-final second legs in this competition have featured at least three goals.

City have W1-D3-L5 when taking on top-nine clubs in the league with Southampton and Watford the only top-half teams to leave the Etihad pointless. Nevertheless, their superb home scoring record – nothing 49 goals across 17 matches in all competitions ensures they’re still alive, well and ready to kick-on in this tie.

With value hard to find, it may pay to pick William Hill’s offer of 1.83 on Manchester City winning and Over 2.5 Goals. With Sergio Aguero in unstoppable form and open encounter on the cards, this bet covers a 2-1 home success (or bigger) as well as a one-sided 3-0 contest.