Pep Guardiola‘s men dominated possession and took the lead shortly after the half-hour mark, with Foden expertly finding the corner of the net from a difficult angle inside the box after latching onto a Julian Alvarez pass.
Four minutes later Alvarez doubled the lead, steering in from close-range after great build up play involving Matheus Nunes, Rico Lewis and Foden.
With 57 minutes on the clock, Kevin De Bruyne made his return to action after a lengthy spell on the sidelines and one minute after his introduction, we added another goal as Oscar Bobb‘s cross was deflected into his own net by Ben Jackson.
Seven minutes later Foden drilled in his second of the afternoon from outside the box, arrowing the ball into the bottom corner, , taking his goal tally to 11 across all competitions this season.
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And it was normal service resumed for the influential De Bruyne, who marked his return with an assist, delicately dinking the ball to the far post for Jeremy Doku to sweep into the net to make it 5-0.
Academy starlets Jacob Wright made his first-team debut with 15 minutes left to play, with Micah Hamilton also coming onto the pitch as we began the defence of our FA Cup crown in perfect fashion.
View the best images from the victory via our gallery below.
