What happened...
Manchester City are through the quarter-final of the FA Youth Cup after a 4-0 victory over Southampton at the Academy Stadium.
Goals from Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho, Lukas Nmecha and Demeaco Duhaney saw Lee Carsley’s side safely into the last eight of the traditional competition.
Southampton started the brighter of the two sides with Aro Muric forced into an excellent low save from Jonathan Afolabi’s strike inside the first five minutes.
However, City soon returned to their comfort zone in control of the possession with Nmecha and Sancho testing Adam Parkes in the Southampton goal.
That pressure soon told as Phil Foden collected the ball in the inside left channel and fired across the goal to put City in the lead.
One became two shortly before half-time as Brahim Diaz drilled a cross along the floor for Sancho, who made no mistake this time from around 10 yards out.
There was still time for a third before the break with Lukas Nmecha on hand to tap home Demeaco Duhaney’s inviting ball across the face of goal.
The one-way traffic continued in the second period with a number of near misses for Sancho and Nmecha, who had the visitors on the edge throughout the night.
The fourth did inevitably come, although the scorer was perhaps a surprise. After Tom Dele-Bashiru’s drilled effort hit the post, Demeaco Duhaney was presented with the opportunity to tap home and seal City’s passage.
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What it means...
City are through to the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup.
The Blues are back in action against Newcastle United in the U18 Premier League on Saturday 28 January.
Key moment...
Having asserted their authority on the opposition after an even opening ten minutes, City and the watching crowd needed a goal to calm their nerves.
Phil Foden’s shift and strike was perfectly placed to see City get ahead and stay there.
Man of the match....
Phil Foden - Prepared to do the hard yards as well as creating something special in the centre of midfield, Foden was instrumental yet again for Lee Carsley’s side.
How they lined up...
Aro Muric made his second consecutive start after his return from injury.
Matt Smith and Demeaco Duhaney were right-back and left-back respectively either side of Ed Francis and captain Joel Latibeaudiere in the centre.
Sadou Diallo sat behind Phil Foden and Tom Dele Bashiru in centre midfield while Brahim Diaz and Jadon Sancho flanked central striker Lukas Nmecha.
