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LONDON. — Manchester City and Liverpool head the list of teams coveting a berth in the League Cup soccer semi-finals this week as the competition reaches the quarter-final stage without several major names.

With Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and holders Chelsea having fallen by the wayside, City and Liverpool will already have designs on the February 28 final at Wembley.

City, who host second-tier Hull City today, won 3-1 against Southampton at the weekend and having lost to Liverpool and Juventus in their two previous games, goalkeeper Willy Caballero hopes Saturday’s success proves a turning point.

“We need to play like this the next game,” he told the club website.

“In December, if we play in this way, if the injured players return, like David Silva today (Saturday), I think we will stay in the first positions of the table.”

Caballero is in line to deputise again for the injured Joe Hart, while manager Manuel Pellegrini must decide whether to hand a start to influential striker Sergio Aguero, who went off with a knock against Southampton.

“We must try to recover the players for Tuesday,” said Pellegrini. “It’s important for us to reach the semi-final of the League Cup.”

Liverpool face a difficult trip to Southampton tomorrow, but they will go into the game having lost only one of the 10 games they have played since Jurgen Klopp succeeded Brendan Rodgers as manager.

Fixtures (all 9:45pm)

Today: Manchester City v Hull City, Middlesbrough v Everton, Stoke City v Sheffield Wednesday

Tomorrow: Southampton v Liverpool — AFP.