Manchester City 7 Sheffield Wednesday 0. Seven second half goals eased City through to the last 16 of the League Cup and raised more questions about the future of Frank Lampard. The veteran midfielder scored twice in the Sky Blues' rout of their Championship opponents, a brace to go with the crucial equaliser he netted for City against his former club Chelsea in Sunday's 1-1 Premier League draw.
With the 36-year-old in such a rich vein of form it was inevitable that the main topic of conversation in the wake of the Wednesday walloping was whether Lampard would see out the season with City.
As it stands, Lampard is due to head to the USA at the start of January to begin a two year stint with MLS outfit New York City, but now it looks possible that the ex-England star could stay with City. "It is an issue that we will see further down the line," said manager Manuel Pellegrini when asked if he would seek to defer Lampard's departure Stateside. "We will see what happens in January and we have two or three months to decide... we will do what is best for the team and the player. We must talk about a lot of things, but it is not impossible for him to stay here."
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Without a win in any competition since beating Liverpool in the league on 25 August, Pellegrini named a strong side for the visit of the Yorkshire outfit and the City starting XI featured the likes of Lampard, Eden Dzeko, James Milner and captain Yaya Toure.
Yet despite fielding a near full-strength side, City found it hard to break down Wednesday, currently sixth in the Championship and with just one defeat in ten matches going into the league cup clash against the holders.
But in what Wednesday manager Stuart Gray described as a "seven-minute mad period", the visitors saw their hopes of a famous victory dashed as they leaked a hat-trick of goals. Lampard got the first, slotting home at the near post on 47 minutes, and six minutes later Dzeko fired into the Wednesday net. Jesus Navas then added a third as City killed off the game in ruthless fashion.
Toure made it 4-0 from the penalty spot after Lampard had been upended by Kamil Zayatte, a foul for which the defender was dismissed, and Dzeko took the tally to five on 77 minutes with a powerful header. Teenage Spanish striker Pozo, who arrived from Real Madrid's academy in 2012, got in on the act by scoring City's sixth and the final word, fittingly, went to the impressive Lampard on the stroke of full-time
"He is a star in England and I'm very happy for him," Pellegrini said of Lampard. "He is a very important player for our team and maybe, at 36, he cannot play three games in a row. But Frank is a top player."
