Manchester City will not win a third successive Carabao Cup this year.
City have been dumped out of the cup at the hands of David Moyes’ West Ham.
West Ham won 5-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in normal time.
Manchester United lost to West Ham last month, defeated 1-0 at Old Trafford.
That was a disappointing night, and the likes of Eric Bailly, Jesse Lingard, Donny van de Beek and Juan Mata have not started a game since.
Missed out or lucky escape?
So, would you rather Manchester United had won against West Ham or is it a relief to have missed out on a midweek game against City right now?
The timing of this fourth round cup tie would have been very interesting if United got through.
Losing 5-0 to Liverpool at the weekend was an abomination of a result which nearly cost manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his job. Many consider him very lucky to survive.
Arguably the last thing this United side would have wanted right now was a game against City.
We face them in a fortnight in a lunchtime kick-off after all, a game which might be the end for Solskjaer if he loses it badly.
So it probably has not been a totally bad thing for United to have just had this week off to spend solely on the training ground, and been spared the prospect of lining up against City so soon after a chastening loss to Liverpool.
On the other side of the coin, you could argue that a game against a rotated City side would have been exactly the tonic.
United would have rotated the squad too, to give a chance to Van de Beek, Lingard, et al, and they could have had a real chance to make a go of it and force their way into the side.
A win over City and knocking them out of the cup would have been the perfect way to respond to the Liverpool defeat, and set United up well for the forthcoming games against Tottenham, Atalanta, and City in the league.
To reach the quarter-finals would also have lifted the mood, to take this side closer to a trophy, and eliminating the favourites who have won it four of the last five years.
The early cup exit was one of the reasons for the doom and gloom under Solskjaer. He has never dropped out of a competition so early and losing is a bad habit to get into. United followed up the West Ham defeat with a loss against Aston Villa in the Premier League.
The prospect of being dumped out of the cup at Old Trafford by City is worse than the loss to West Ham, and it really would have piled it on after the Liverpool game.
With the way United are playing at the moment, its hard to have any faith Solskjaer’s side would have been victorious, especially as City won the semi-final at Old Trafford last season.
Instead we will see how United get on against City on November 6, if indeed Solskjaer is even in charge then.
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