Manchester City vs Sunderland: Will this shape the Capital One Cup Final?

Adetayo Odulaja 

Manchester City entertain Sunderland on Wednesday, with the hosts looking to get back to winning ways in the title race.

Defeat by Chelsea in their last match at the Etihad ended a run of 11 consecutive home wins for City and 61 Premier League games without failing to score on home turf.

Then followed a limp display against Norwich at Carrow Road where Manuel Pellegrini's men failed to score once again, and that stalemate saw Chelsea leapfrog City and go top of the table.

With Chelsea in such irresistible form, it is imperative that City get back to winning ways if they want to mount a serious title tilt, but Sunderland represent a tougher proposition under boss Gus Poyet, and travel south in good form.

Prior to the home defeat to Hull at the weekend, where they had to play almost the entire match with 10 men after Wes Brown's dismissal, the Black Cats won three Premier League matches in a row taking them out of the bottom three.

Poyet's side have kept four clean sheets in their last six Premier League away matches and will be tough for an unusually out-of-sorts City strikeforce to break down.

And the omens are good for the visitors. City have won just two of the last eight Premier League meetings with Sunderland, with all four of the Wearsiders' victories being 1-0 wins.