Bristol City Q&A: Meet the owner, manager and key players of the Championship high-flyers hoping to topple Man United in EFL Cup

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They are the only Championship survivors in this season's Carabao Cup and Bristol City are dreaming of an unlikely date at Wembley on February 25.

Standing in their way on Wednesday night are Jose Mourinho's Manchester United, the EFL Cup holders and a formidable proposition even for a City side riding high in the second tier.

Here's everything you need to know about the team hoping to knock United off their perch at Ashton Gate.

Bristol City are aiming to spring a surprise on EFL Cup holders Man United on Wednesday

How are Bristol City getting on this season?

Unimaginably well from this point 12 months ago when they seemed to be sliding back into League One amid a miserable tun of eight consecutive league defeats and 11 losses from 12 games.

By late January they were 20th and patience was wearing thin with manager Lee Johnson, who was summoned to see the club's owner Stephen Lansdown.

Johnson suggested the owner went into the dressing room and ask the players for guidance. They were unanimously behind their manager and that faith has certainly proved justified.

City celebrate Marlon Pack's goal during their 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday

They eventually climbed to 17th and survival, before launching into this season in style. They lost just one game before late October and are currently third in the table, four points off an automatic promotion spot.

While it is set up to be a thrilling race for Premier League promotion, City certainly stand an excellent chance of making it into the top flight for the first time since 1980.

Their run in the EFL Cup has only burnished their campaign, with three Premier League scalps - Watford, Stoke City and Crystal Palace - claimed so far on their run.

The Hornets were beaten 3-2 at Vicarage Road back in August, struggling Stoke went down 2-0 at Ashton Gate in the third round, and they came from behind to thrash Palace 4-1.

Their reward was this eagerly-anticipated contest with EFL Cup holders United, their first competitive meeting in 37 years.

Striker Bobby Reid celebrates scoring in City's 3-2 win at Watford earlier in their Cup run

City are currently third in the Championship table, just four points off automatic promotion

Why the resurgence in City's fortunes?

The club have been up and down the divisions since their last top-flight spell but they were close to reaching the Premier League in 2008 when they lost 1-0 to Hull in the play-off final.

They returned to the second-tier in 2015 after two seasons in League One but have recorded finishes of 18th and 17th before things came together this season.

Lansdown served on the club's board in the nineties but is now sole owner and indeed, under the umbrella of the Bristol Sport Group, he also owns the Bristol City Women's team, Bristol Rugby and the Bristol Flyers basketball team.

Billionaire owner Stephen Lansdown wants to guide the team into the Premier League

Lansdown is a billionaire who founded the Hargreaves-Lansdown financial services firm

City's home Ashton Gate has been developed into a modern 27,000-capacity stadium

 The club’s 27,000 all-seater Ashton Gate stadium has been redeveloped to the tune of £45m

The Manchester United game is a sell-out and nearly 16,000 season tickets have been sold

With a fortune estimated at £1.8billion from the Hargreaves-Lansdown financial services firm, this lifelong City supporter has overseen a £45m redevelopment of the stadium, increasing the capacity to 27,000 in recent years.

Lansdown lives in Guernsey and travels around by private jet but the club is still run on a comparatively modest budget by Championship standards.

Their record signing remains Senegal striker Famara Diedhiou, signed from French club Angers for £5.3m back in the summer.

Famara Diedhiou is City's record signing, having arrived from Anger in the summer for £5.3m

So their success owes a lot to the manager?

Yes, from his perilous position a year ago, Johnson has overseen a transformation in fortunes.

The former City midfielder and son of the club's former manager Gary, Johnson is, at 36, the second-youngest manager in the Championship.

Johnson has described City as a 'Premier League club in training' and is determined to deliver them to this promised land through innovation and old-fashioned hard work.

He is a devotee of technology, using a mobile app called 'Coach Paint' that has been helping him to plot the tactical downfall of Mourinho on Wednesday night.

Manager Lee Johnson has overseen a transformation in City's fortunes over the past year

It borrows some of the features familiar to the analysis by Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher on Sky's Monday Night Football. It is a measure of his obsession that Johnson has one of those interactive screens at home.

Each player has access to a club-specific app on their smartphones, through which Johnson sends them analysis of matches, training and key tactical plans.

To help with this, he films every training session from a drone hovering overhead.

Johnson has searched far and wide in search of inspiration, too, observing training methods everywhere from European champions Real Madrid to Latvian side Skonto Riga, while Kenny Dalglish is a personal mentor. 

The 36-year-old manager makes full use of modern technology in his coaching methods

THE WINE OF CHOICE

Barca Velha is the pinnacle of quality amongst Douro wines. Classic, intense, complex, elegant and rich, adjectives are inadequate to describe what is, since its creation in 1952, the most celebrated Portuguese wine.

Source: Vinha  

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To sharpen his competitive edge, Johnson has sought tips from the SAS and once spent a day observing an A&E ward at an NHS hospital to learn about calmness under pressure. 

A man with a 'thirst for learning', he is currently learning French and makes no secret of his wish to coach abroad one day.

In an effort to lure Mourinho into his office to pick his brains after the match, Johnson has imported a £450 bottle of wine as a gift for the United boss.

The bottle of celebrated Portuguese wine Barca Velha 2004 is the same bottle Mourinho gave to Sir Alex Ferguson when his Porto side defeated United in the Champions League in 2004.

'It is being flown in especially from Portugal,' Johnson said. 'We have done due diligence and realise Jose likes this particular bottle. I have had to raid my little girl's piggy bank!

'So hopefully he'll come in and have a little chat with me and I'll try to pick his brain for five or 10 minutes.'

City celebrate a goal scored by Aden Flint in their win over Cardiff back in November

How do City line up and who are the players to watch?

Johnson will have to make do without a number of key personnel for the visit of United. Jonathan Leko and Cauley Woodrow, on loan from West Brom and Fulham respectively, are both cup-tied.

Diedhiou, who has scored six times this season, is sidelined with a knee injury suffered in October, while Italian defender Eros Pisano hasn't played a competitive match since October 31.

German defensive midfielder Jens Hegeler has also been injured since October, while in-form winger Callum O'Dowda won't return until next year after surgery on an ankle injury.

In the Carabao Cup, they have beat Premier League teams in Watford, Stoke and Crystal Palace

City line up almost always in a 4-2-3-1 system to provide balance but like to play an exciting brand of football. They have racked up 36 goals this season, the fourth-highest return in the Championship.

Bobby Reid has been the star turn in many matches, scoring 11 goals this term and he'll be the frontman with most likely Jamie Paterson, Korey Smith and Niclas Eliasson behind him.

United will need to be wary of centre-half Aden Flint, who has scored six times this season and is rock solid at the back alongside Nathan Baker.

Marlon Pack and Josh Brownhill are set to start as the central midfield two, while City also get plenty going forward out of wing-backs Joe Bryan and captain Bailly Wright.

So City are certainly well-equipped to give United some problems and will be hard to break down. A sold-out Ashton Gate will also be rocking in anticipation of what is the club's biggest occasion in years.

Joe Bryan celebrates scoring in City's 4-1 win over Premier League Crystal Palace