Pellegrini’s men travel to Villa Park for the FA Cup fourth round tie in high spirits after Wednesday night’s turnaround against Everton booked a place in the Capital One Cup final.
Fernandinho played a key role in that hard-fought victory – his first half strike levelled the scores on the nigh – and the Brazilian is keen for City to be just as determined on Saturday.
Said Fernandinho: “The FA Cup is very important for the team, the fans, for everyone. We go to play against Villa who have already proved they can be a tough team in their own stadium.
“I hope we can show the same passion and concentration in defending and attacking as we did against Everton and I think this is the best way to play, especially in a knockout competition.
“Of course, playing away means it will be a little bit different but inside the pitch everyone will be together working hard.
“I treat every competition the same. It’s a very good opportunity to win a title, with only five or six games to get to the final. It’s important for the players, for the club to win trophies and to play at Wembley is always special.”
Aston Villa currently sit bottom of the Premier League, with only 13 points from 23 matches, but the 30 year-old insists this won’t matter come kick off on Saturday.
“They are in a bad situation in the Premier League but a lot of things can happen during 90 minutes of cup football,” he said.
“We have two days to prepare, the manager will pick his team for the game and we will try our best because it is very important to qualify for the next round.”
After booking the trip to Wembley, the Brazilian couldn’t help but draw comparisons with the 2013/14 season, when Capital One Cup success inspired the Blues to a second Premier League title in three years.
He said: “I remember we won the cup in March and then we had so many games after it in the Premier League and Champions League. The confidence of the team was high and we showed that on the pitch. I hope this can happen again.”
Finally, after missing four of City’s seven matches in January so far through injury, the midfielder is just happy to be playing again.
He stated: “It’s tough to stay out, I don’t mind the rest but the doctors agreed it was better for me to just train for a few weeks to get back to 100%. Now I hope to play until the end of season without injury.”
