Bernardo Silva scored twice and Phil Foden impressed as Manchester City comfortably avoided an FA Cup upset on Sunday.
Match Reports
Manchester City eased into the fourth round of the FA Cup thanks to a Bernardo Silva-inspired 3-0 win at home to Birmingham City on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola made the somewhat surprising decision to name what was essentially his strongest possible XI, and their superior quality was telling from the start as they quickly raced into a 2-0 lead.
Silva opened the scoring with a gorgeous volley and swiftly doubled City's advantage to cap off a fine move in the 15th minute, before Phil Foden effectively killed off any hopes of a Birmingham comeback before the interval.
City were less deadly in the second period as they failed to add to their lead, but it mattered little as they had no difficulty seeing out a comfortable victory.
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
8' GOAL! Man City 1-0 Birmingham City (Bernardo)
15' GOAL! Man City 2-0 Birmingham City (Bernardo)
30' CHANCE! Jesus' shot denied
33' GOAL! Man City 3-0 Birmingham City (Foden)
36' CLOSE! Jesus' shot cleared off on goal-line
45' CLOSE! Mahrez's free-kick over the bar
61' OFFSIDE! Mahrez's goal disallowed
85' CLOSE! Bela's long shot over the bar
Line-ups
Man City XI: Walker, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Cancelo, Mendy, Z. Steffen, Ruben Dias, Bernardo, Jesus, Rodri, Foden
Subs: Fernandinho, Gundogan, Stones, Ederson, Zinchenko, Harwood-Bellis, F. Nmecha, Luke Mbete-Tabu, L. Delap
Birmingham City XI: San José, M. Kieftenbeld, G. Friend, S. Hogan, M. Colin, Iván Sánchez, Jon Toral, I. Šunjić, Prieto, J.C Salter, J. Leko
Subs: L. Jutkiewicz, A. Clayton, H. Dean, N. Etheridge, Jérémie Bela, M. Roberts, K. Pedersen, R. McGree, J. Cogley