Date confirmed for United v City semi-final

Thursday 24 December 2020 13:30

The EFL have confirmed when Manchester United will meet neighbours Manchester City in the 2020/21 Carabao Cup semi-finals.

The Reds and Blues will face each other at Old Trafford on Wednesday 6 January, giving both sides another day to prepare after the first round of Premier League fixtures in 2021.

The other semi-final, Tottenham Hotspur hosting Brentford, will be played 24 hours earlier, on Tuesday 5 January. 

Both ties will kick off at 19:45 GMT and will be shown live in the UK on Sky Sports.

Prior to the derby, United will be at home to Aston Villa in the league on New Year's Day at 20:00 GMT, but City have to wait until Sunday, 3 January, to visit Chelsea for a game kicking off at 16:30 GMT.

The Reds reached the Carabao Cup semi-finals last season, before bowing out to the eventual winners City over two legs.

This season's semis have been reduced to one leg, due to fixture congestion in this pandemic-affected season, while the final has been moved from its traditional late February slot to a new date of Sunday 25 April 2021, in the hope that fans will be allowed inside Wembley Stadium by then.

After missing out last term, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men will be determined to reach that showpiece occasion and ultimately win the competition for the sixth time in the club's history. An Old Trafford victory over our neighbours would also end City's long-running grip on the Carabao Cup - the Blues have claimed the trophy for the last three seasons, with the last different winners being United back in 2017, when Southampton were defeated 3-2.
The early January showdown with Pep Guardiola's side will be Solskjaer's seventh Manchester derby in a little over two years since he was appointed Reds boss. So far, the Norwegian has won three and lost two, with the only draw coming earlier this month when the sides served up an unusually lacklustre 0-0 draw at the Theatre of Dreams in the Premier League.

City booked their place in the semi-finals by beating Arsenal 4-1 away on Tuesday night, having seen off Burnley 3-0 at Turf Moor in the fourth round and Bournemouth 2-1 at home in their tie before that.

In the other Carabao Cup quarter-finals, Championship club Brentford pulled off a shock 1-0 triumph at home to Newcastle United, but Stoke City couldn't quite spring the same kind of surprise against their visitors Tottenham Hotspur, losing 3-1.

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