Holden challenges Bristol City to forget Watford misery and focus on trying to shock Guardiola

Bristol City have vowed to face Manchester City with no fear in tomorrow’s English League Cup semi-final first leg.

Assistant manager Dean Holden has insisted the Ashton Gate outfit will quickly shake off Saturday’s 3-0 FA Cup loss at Watford in time for their trip to Etihad Stadium.

Bristol hope Korey Smith can be fit for the last-four encounter, with the forward who bagged the late quarter-final winner over Manchester United in December nursing a shin complaint.

Holden said Bristol’s coaches, led by manager Lee Johnson, can forge future links with Pep Guardiola, but not before the visitors hope they cause a big upset against the Premier League leaders, who have not lost a domestic match in any competition since April.

“We’re coming up against probably one of the best coaches there’s ever been, and one of the best teams the Premier League has ever seen,” said Holden of Guardiola and City.

“We’re not quite sure what team they will put out, so we will prepare as best we can on our game.

“It’s a very difficult night for us, but there’s upsets all around the world every week.

“We know what we’re up against, but we’ve got a lot of heart and we’ll see what happens.”

Holden conceded that it would be a challenge for Bristol to bounce back from losing to Premier League side Watford, who ironically they defeated back in August 3-2 to start their League Cup run.

Bristol have beaten four topflight sides in their run to the semi-finals with Crystal Palace and Stoke City having also fallen to them.

“It’s difficult to hit back after a defeat like Saturday, because we’re all gutted and hurting to be out of the FA Cup. But Tuesday will be incredible. We’ve got almost 8,000 supporters travelling up,” Holden said.

“We’ve already beaten Manchester United and proven anything can happen, so we’ll go up there with a lot of heart.”

Of what City are hoping to learn from City and Guardiola, Holden said: “I wouldn’t quite say Guardiola is a revolutionary, but a lot of young coaches look at the way he has his team playing and wonder if they can get their team doing something similar.

“The spirit he has fostered with his players seems genuine and special, too.

“Hopefully after the game we’ll try to maybe make a connection so it’s someone we can perhaps learn from in future.

“But first and foremost we want to make sure we can take it back to Ashton Gate for the second leg in a few weeks with the tie still competitive.”

The other semi-final tie sees Chelsea up against Arsenal on Wednesday in their first-leg match.

Bristol hope Korey Smith can be fit for the last-four encounter with the forward nursing a shin complaint