Phil Foden makes Pep Guardiola point as Man City crush Bristol City - 5 talking points

in football •  2 years ago 

BRISTOL CITY 0-3 MANCHESTER CITY: Phil Foden's brace and a Kevin De Bruyne long-range strike was enough to beat their Championship opponents and send City through to the FA Cup quarter-finals

Manchester City booked their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals after a routine 3-0 win over Bristol City on Tuesday.

Phil Foden gave Pep Guardiola's side the lead inside the opening quarter of an hour as he finished off well-worked team move. Although Nigel Pearson's side created chances and gave the Premier League side a stern test, their hard work was undone when Foden added his second to all but kill the tie with a deflected finish.

Moments later, Kevin de Bruyne added a third with a superb long-range strike to cap off the win for City as they cruised through to the last-eight alongside Brighton, Blackburn and Fulham, who also progressed on the night. Here are five talking points from Ashton Gate...

Foden makes Guardiola statement
Having struggled for form since the World Cup, Foden was back to his best in the win over Bournemouth on Saturday and followed that up with another impressive performance against the Robins. He opened the scoring with a neat close-range finish in the seventh minute following Riyad Mahrez's cross.

And the England ace continued to be a handful on the left-hand side and he created a glorious chance for Alvarez to double City's lead on the quarter-hour mark, but the Argentine miss-hit it. Foden interchanged with Bernando Silva throughout the first-half with one dropping inside and the other out wide.

It caused the Robins plenty of issues and Foden was once again out on the left to create an excellent chance in the 50th minute but no-one was on the end of his low cross. Then Foden wrapped up the win for City in the 74th minute as his low effort found the back of the net via a deflection.

De Bruyne wonderstrike
De Bruyne has come under some criticism of late for his performances and lack of goals, but the Belgian, like Foden, impressed for City against their Championship counterparts. He had a quiet first-half but came to life in the second-half as Guardiola's side sealed their place in the next round with two late goals.

Foden's second goal meant the hosts had to be more open and De Bruyne made the most of that by firing terrific effort into the bottom corner from 25 yards. It was an excellent effort from the ex-Chelsea man, who guided the ball beautifully off his right boot and it flew straight past the Robins goalkeeper.

Haaland omission
The 22-year-old was named on the bench for the trip to Ashton Gate, having started the last 10 matches in all competitions. It was a well-deserved rest for the striker, who has been in sensational form for City this campaign but has barely had any time off, playing 33 matches this season before the game in the South West.

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