Bilic seeks Cup respite to league troubles

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic is under even more serious pressure afterRonald Koeman’s sacking by Everton but he will hope for a fillip inWednesday’s Last 16 League Cup action.Media reports suggest that Bilic, who made his name as Croatian nationalcoach, has been given two matches to salvage his job but a trip away toin-form Tottenham Hotspur is probably not the sort of challenge onewould want as one of them.Everton — who despite splashing out £140mn ($185mn) on players in theclose season lie third from bottom of the Premier League — begin lifepost Koeman by travelling to champions Chelsea.Both may have to play their first teams in a competition which usuallygives Premier League managers the chance to rest weary first choiceplayers. Indeed the League Cup would be bottom of priorities for most PremierLeague managers in terms of silverware or for some simply to survive inthe elite to keep on reaping in the millions that membership offers.However, for Bilic no such luxury can be afforded in that respect andfacing a Tottenham side that put Liverpool to the sword 4-1 and firmlyset aside the so-called Wembley jinx could not come at a worse time.The charismatic Croatian is clearly feeling the weight of expectationsas one poor season last term — which came close to costing him his job —has been followed by no sign of a return to the form that they showedin his first campaign.“I’m the manager and I don’t want to run away from the fact that it’s myresponsibility, and I take full responsibility,” he said. HammersPortuguese defender Jose Fonte said the players owed the fans a goodperformance.“We have a game on Wednesday and we need to go and beat Spurs because wehave to react, we have to bounce back,” Fonte told the club website. Defeat by Spurs would not be a catastrophe for Bilic but a loss nextweekend to bottom side Crystal Palace would more than likely seal hisfater and make him the fourth managerial casualty of the season.Whilst he waits nervously for Wednesday the greater part of the matchestake place on Tuesday with the only all Premier League affair Swanseahosting holders Manchester United.United’s manager Jose Mourinho will be looking for his players to showmore fight after blasting them following the 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield.Juan Mata, one of those players high up on Mourinho’s hit list and wasreplaced at half-time, issued a rallying cry to his team-mates onMonday.“Now, it’s time to learn from mistakes and keep going, as we always do,showing that the team sticks together when things don’t go so well,which is when we need it most,” the Spaniard wrote on his blog.United’s neighbours Manchester City host Championship leaders Wolveswith the possibility that Sergio Aguero if given a run out could breakEric Brook’s all-time goalscoring record which has stood since 1939 —the Argentinian went level on 177 with a goal against Burnley onSaturday.City manager Pep Guardiola indicated 29-year-old Aguero would start —although the team will largely be made up of reserves and youngsters —and he was not taking Wolves lightly.“We deserve the respect of opponents when they look at us, when theywatch us on TV, on the field, and say ‘that team makes a lot of goodthings’,” said Guardiola. “That is all I want.” The other clashes are tricky for the Premier League sides as they facein-form tier two outfits with Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace away trip toBristol City and 2016 champions Leicester home to Leeds being twopotential upsets.  Today:  (kick-offs 1845GMT unless stated)Arsenal v Norwich, Bournemouth v Middlesbrough, Bristol City v CrystalPalace, Leicester v Leeds, Manchester City v Wolves (1900), Swansea vManchester UnitedTomorrowChelsea v Everton (1845), Tottenham v West Ham (1900)