Manchester clubs drawn together in semi-finals of the Carabao Cup

HOLDERS MANCHESTER CITY will face rivals Manchester United in the two-legged semi-finals of this season’s Carabao Cup. The other tie will see Leicester City face Aston Villa. 

The first legs will be played on the week commencing 6 January, with the return legs on three weeks later. 

Both Manchester clubs eased into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup this evening, as Leicester later joined them by seeing off Everton on penalties. 

Marcus Rashford scored his fourth goal in five games as United netted three times in 10 second-half minutes to beat Colchester United 3-0.

After Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men put the Old Trafford faithful through a drab first half in which they failed to make 80 per cent of the possession count, Rashford broke the deadlock six minutes into the second period with a fine solo effort.

Rashford would have had a second five minutes later had Colchester’s Ryan Jackson not put through his own net, and the in-form forward then provided an assist for Anthony Martial to score his seventh goal of the season in all competitions.

The flurry of goals was no less than the Red Devils deserved for a fluid second-half display, with Colchester, who are ninth in League Two, made to pay for errors that had been absent in penalty shoot-out victories over Crystal Palace and Tottenham earlier in the competition.

Raheem Sterling, meanwhile, scored twice as Manchester City battled to a 3-1 victory at Oxford United.

Joao Cancelo’s first City goal opened the scoring midway through the first half, with goalkeeper Jordan Archer wrongfooted by a deflection off helpless defender Elliott Moore.

League One side Oxford hit back just after the break, Matty Taylor taking his goal brilliantly to restore a short-lived parity, but Sterling – captain for the night – tucked in Angelino’s left-wing centre to put the holders back in front.

Sterling struck again to seal a spot in the last four, with Pep Guardiola’s assistant Mikel Arteta on the City bench amid reports the former Arsenal midfielder is set to succeed Unai Emery at Emirates Stadium.

Finally, Duncan Ferguson suffered his first defeat as Everton’s interim manager as Leicester City booked their place in the last-four with a penalty shoot-out victory at Goodison Park.

Everton fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in normal time to set up penalties. After quickfire goals from James Maddison and Jonny Evans had put Leicester in control, Everton rallied through Tom Davies and Leighton Baines’ stoppage-time stunner.

But Baines could not repeat his heroics from the spot as he, along with Cenk Tosun, failed to beat Kasper Schmeichel – the Premier League’s leading scorer Jamie Vardy ensuring Leicester’s place in the last four. 

Villa are in the mix following last night’s 5-0 win over Liverpool’s reserves.