City Progress In The FA Cup

Manchester City progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup over the weekend as they beat Championship side Fulham 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium. 

Coming into the game Manchester City were firm favourites and put a strong team out including David Silva, Riad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus but younger players in Phil Foden and Eric Garcia were involved. 

The game started horribly for Fulham as they gave away a penalty and were reduced to ten men after just 8 minutes. David Silva played a delicate touch through to Jesus who was through on goal only for Tim Ream to haul the Brazilian down and he received his marching orders. Ilkay Gundogan stepped up and buried the penalty into the bottom left corner leaving the keeper with no chance. 

In the 19th minute, Bernardo Silva made it 2-0 with a lovely effort. Phil Foden passed the ball to the Portuguese man and he wriggled around the box to create some space and smash the ball into the bottom right corner. 

Fulham soaked up the pressure well and even with ten men they never stopped trying to play football regularly passing it out from the back. They had a half-chance when De Cordova-Reid danced passed Angelino on the right-hand side but he hit his effort straight at Claudio Bravo. 

In the second half, City continued to dominate the game. Raheem Sterling replaced Riad Mahrez and was instantly involved as he was threaded but he smashed his effort off the crossbar. 

In the 72nd minute, Pep Guardiola’s side deservedly had their third goal. Joao Cancelo delivered a brilliant cross into the box which split the two Fulham defenders and Jesus nodded the ball past the keeper. 

City’s fourth came shortly after and it was a poor goal to concede from Fulham’s point of view. Hector was caught by Jesus on the edge of his penalty area trying to be too clever. Silva picked up the ball and found Foden, whose shot was saved before Jesus nodded in the rebound.

An important win for City who may be out of the Premier League title race but are still competitive in the three cup competitions. City will discover their fifth-round opponents when the draw takes place on Monday from 19:00 GMT.