MAN CITY 5, HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 0
Manchester City kicked off their defence of the Emirates FA Cup with a five-goal showing against Championship club Huddersfield Town.
Phil Foden scored twice while Julian Alvarez, Oscar Bobb and Jeremy Doku also found the net in a resounding third-round victory.
And City continue to rack up impressive stats as this was the 42nd time since Pep Guardiola became manager in 2016 that they have won by five goals of more.
City have won their last 12 FA Cup games at the Etihad scoring 52 goals and conceding just four.
This win was as comprehensive as any as City enjoyed 84 per cent possession and racked up 958 passes to Huddersfield’s 179 which again underlined their dominance.
Foden said: “We’re all buzzing with result. It was a bit difficult to break them down. The first goal I scored was important, then we had more rhythm, and we took our chances well.
“Delighted with the result, not an easy sided when they give everything to beat us but I thought the way we handled ourselves, didn’t get impatient, carried on playing our football – we’re delighted with the result.
“The team handles it well. We seem to come against a low block quite often. We know what to expect, we just need to be patient, find the spaces and keep switching and hopefully they’ll open up and get tired. We attacked at the right time and aggressively so it’s a great result.”
Guardiola was delighted to have Kevin De Bruyne back for his first minutes since the opening league game of the season at Burnley where he was badly injured.
But he explained that the Belgium needs to be used sparingly having been out since August.
“He needs to accumulate training sessions more than games,” explained Guardiola who said after next weekend’s game at Newcastle they are off to Abu Dhabi for warm weather training during the winter break.
“We are incredibly delighted to have him back because Kevin helps to win games. It is so important to have him back after a long injury.
“He will help us with his talent, but I don’t want to put all the pressure on Kevin’s shoulders because it is not fair to him.
“Of course, he has a special ability and quality to do something that is difficult to find. We have guys in midfield who love to run. Kevin is exceptional. He is unique. We are really pleased he is back after more than three months with injury. He had a really good assist for the Jeremy Doku goal.”
And looking ahead to the second half of the season, Guardiola added: “We know we cannot drop points much now.
“After the final game at Newcastle, we have two weeks to refresh minds in better weather.
“We want to arrive in the second part of the season all fit so we can compete in all competitions.”
Huddersfield manager Darren Moore said: “City are a fantastic team and it was about taking the learning perspective from today which can only be good for us in the second part of the season.
“I always expected a tough game and what we tried to do was nullify the area where City are good at, something we did early on.
Embed from Getty Images“The boys did not disgrace themselves and nullified a lot of the areas where City dominate and devastate.
“If there was one small critique, we did not make enough of our scoring opportunities, but I have nothing but credit to the players for the way they went about the game.”
De Bruyne was once again on the bench for City as Guardiola made five changes for the visit of Huddersfield.
Stefan Ortega, Ruben Dias, Sergio Gomez, Rico Lewis and Bobb were all given starting spots.
Doku was also on the bench but Erling Haaland, who has been injured, and the unwell Bernardo Silva were not included in the squad.
Championship side Huddersfield handed a debut to midfielder Alex Matos who joined on loan from Chelsea.
Striker Bojan Radulovic, who joined from Finnish champions HJK Helsinki last week, was on the bench.
Huddersfield made a bright start with their counter attacking as Sorba Thomas and Josh Koroma were a threat on the break.
When City attacked, they were up against opponents who packed all 11 players behind the ball.
City were also forced into an early change as Manuel Akanji limped off after a challenge which saw Matos booked. He was replaced by Matheus Nunes.
Huddersfield’s brave resistance was finally broken in the 33rd minute.
Alvarez’ initial effort was blocked by Matos and rebounded to Foden who fired home an angled shot from the edge of the six-yard box, his 10th of the season and 70th goal for the club by the age of 23.
Foden also became the first player to score in six successive seasons in the FA Cup.
It was like waiting for the bus as two goals came in quick succession as Alvarez doubled the lead four minutes later.
Nunes’ cross was helped on by Lewis for Alvarez to slide in to score from six yards, his 13th goal of the season and his fifth in the last four games.
City made a double change in the 57th minute as Grealish and Alvarez were replaced by Doki and De Bruyne who was making his first appearance since the opening game of the season at Burnley where he was badly injured.
A third goal arrived in the 59th minute when Bobb scored his second senior goal.
Nunes provided the assist with Bobb’s effort from the edge of the box deflecting off Ben Jackson and looping into the net off the underside of the bar.
Huddersfield had their first goal attempt on the hour when Thomas found himself clean through but Ortega made a big block.
Foden scored a second and City’s fourth in the 66th minute, a fierce low drove from outside the box after a neat build-up involving De Bruyne, Sergio Gomez and Kovacic.
Doku fired home City’s fifth in in the 74th minute, a sweetly struck half volley from De Bruyne’s cutback.
Guardiola made two further changes as he handed Jacob Wright a senior debut and also introduced Micah Hamilton for his home debut as Kovacic and Foden made way.
Gomez almost made it six as his drive was well tipped over by keeper Lee Nicholls.