Manchester City outclassed modest Salford (8-0) in the FA Cup. Apart from Brentford, all Premier League representatives have graced their ranks.
Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea outclassed their fourth division visitors, Salford (8-0), Accrington Stanley (4-0) and Morecambe (5-0) in the FA Cup, a fate that their envy Brentford, eliminated from he entered Saturday by the red lantern of Championship. All Premier League representatives have carefully entered the competition, with the exception of «Bees» (bees) from London, stung 1-0 in front of their home crowd by Plymouth Argyle, last in D2.
Nottingham Forest did the job against Luton (2-0), Bournemouth and Leicester respectively outclassed West Brom (5-1) and QPR (6-2), Wolverhampton took over Bristol (2-1) and Brighton brought down Norwich (4-0), with a double from Frenchman Georginio Rutter.
McAtee voit triple
Manchester City made short work of Salford, a fourth division (League Two) neighbor owned by former Manchester United stars, including David Beckham, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs. James McAtee, 22-year-old attacking midfielder, scored a hat-trick at the Etihad stadium, where he had never scored before. And Jérémy Doku improved his statistics with a double and two assists.
In difficulty this season, Jack Grealish improved his morale by scoring, on a penalty (49th, 4-0), his first goal in official competition since December 2023 with the «Citizens». Pep Guardiola took advantage of the «Cup» to blow away many regular starters, like Erling Haaland, a choice similar to that made by most of the Premier League’s big names.
Among the ultra-rich in Chelsea, this produced a “our” high-level starting point however, since the usual replacements in the championship are called Axel Disasi, Reece James, Romeo Lavia, Joao Félix and Christopher Nkunku. THE «Blues» and their French striker, who missed a penalty (17th), experienced a fairly sluggish first period, ending at only 1-0 after a shot from Tosin Adarabioyo (39th, 1-0) deflected by an opponent.
But they stepped on the accelerator after the break and took off thanks to Nkunku (50th), Adarabioyo again (70th), then Félix (75th, 77th).
Chiesa scorer
Premier League leader Liverpool made life easier with two goals in each period against Accrington Stanley, nineteenth in League Two (D4).
Arne Slot had rested Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk, for example, and given a chance to players with little playing time (Endo, Elliott, Quansah…), if at all. At 16 years and 135 days old, promising left winger Rio Ngumoha made his debut with the «Reds». The young dribbler, who arrived from Chelsea in September to play with the U18s, sparked on his side, especially in the first half.
But it was the experienced Diogo Jota (29th) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (45th, 2-0) who sheltered Liverpool before half-time and allowed Slot, afterwards, to continue his squad review. Federico Chiesa, in a rare appearance for Liverpool, took the opportunity to score his first goal (90th, 4-0), a quarter of an hour after being involved in that of the 3-0 (76th) signed Jayden Danns, another incoming.
“We shouldn’t get carried away because although I really liked the way Accrington Stanley played, ultimately they are a League Two team”nuanced Slot, when asked about the performance of the Italian striker.
