Manchester City vs Burnley. The FA Cup Fourth Round.
Etihad StadiumAttendance50,121.
Saturday 26 January 2019 17:25, UK
Manchester City maintained their interest in four competitions by easing into the FA Cup fifth round with a commanding 5-0 win over Burnley.
Pep Guardiola's side won at a canter at the Etihad Stadium with Gabriel Jesus, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne strikes, a Sergio Aguero penalty and a Kevin Long own goal.
Burnley, who lost to City by the same score in October, were again poor but the game might have been different had Matej Vydra taken a gilt-edged chance when City led only 1-0 after half-time.
Instead, that merely served as a wake-up call for City, after a quiet start in which Kyle Walker collided with - and snapped - a corner flag. Play was delayed while referee Graham Scott first tried to fix it and then called for a replacement.
When the game resumed, City asserted control and Jesus was inches away from turning in a dangerous low ball from De Bruyne before Pope saved with his feet from Bernardo Silva and palmed away a Danilo strike.
A goal seemed inevitable and it came after some nimble footwork from Jesus, who raced onto a chipped pass from Danilo, cut back from the byline and fired home a low shot after 23 minutes.
Ilkay Gundogan then had a shot deflected wide, before the Clarets were almost gifted a way back into the game early in the second half when Vydra robbed Nicolas Otamendi and raced in on goal but fired wide as Ederson advanced.
That forced City to up the tempo and Bernardo Silva made Vydra pay for his miss as he latched onto another great De Bruyne pass, skilfully cut inside and blasted through Pope's grasp.
Jesus then shot straight at Pope and Riyad Mahrez fired narrowly wide before De Bruyne added City's third with a booming low drive from 25 yards.
De Bruyne's dominance continued and the fourth was also down to him as he raced into the area and squared the ball that rebounded into the net off Long.
Long then compounded his misfortune by dwelling on the ball too long and holding back the onrushing David Silva. Aguero completed the rout from the spot.
