"If we win I will be very happy for our club first, because we need a good performance against the leaders," said Hammers boss Pellegrini.

"After that if we can give a hand to Manchester City, it's not our problem, but of course I am a fan of Manchester City also."

However, Pellegrini feels Liverpool's exit from both domestic cups will still give them an edge in the title race even if they come unstuck in east London.

The Chilean insists Tottenham – knocked out of both cups last week – also cannot be discounted.

"It's more easy for the team that is involved in just two competitions compared to the team that is involved in four," he added.

"Tottenham? You should never think that a team four or five points behind you are not involved in the title. Of course they are.

"City have to play the final of the Carabao Cup which will suspend a game. If they make the semi-final of the FA Cup they must suspend another game.

"They have midweek with the Champions League. So it's not easy to compete in all the competitions.

"I talked about this four years ago. The major problem was that we were involved in all the competitions. We won one League Cup in that moment.

"We then went out of the FA Cup in the quarter-final against Wigan. If we'd continued in that FA Cup, I don't think we would have been able to play all the games. We didn't have time to do it."

Pellegrini has confirmed that defender Winston Reid, out for almost a year with a knee injury, is not expected back in action this season.

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