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Manchester City recorded a 3-1 win in their FA Cup fixture against Swansea City tonight at the Liberty Stadium. Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus added two goals within five minutes after the restart to triple City's lead, who'd opened the scoring in the 30th minute via Kyle Walker's cross that went straight in.
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The hosts pulled one back in the 77th minute from Morgan Whittaker's well-taken strike, having not recorded a single shot on goal till that point. Though Pep Guardiola rested a few of his regular starters for the cup tie, the result was the same for the Cityzens.
They quickly took control of the game and had a couple of sights on goal in the early stages of the game. Freddie Woodman was alert to thwart some of Jesus' early attempts. Walker's goal brought some life into the game as the hosts also responded instantly, only for Jay Fulton to head an attempt just over the bar.
City got the second half off to a wonderful start, and went 2-0 up just 74 seconds after the restart. Jesus added another goal in the 50th minute to end Swansea's comeback hopes.
As City continue their fine run of form across all competitions, here we take a look at the five major talking points from the game.
#5 Manchester City's dominance at both ends of the pitch helped secure an easy win
The stats from the game aptly tell the story and just how good Manchester City were tonight. They were the better side across all metrics in the game and, with their 74% possession, dominated the proceedings from the get-go.
They managed 17 shots against the hosts and seven of them were on target. Swansea could only manage six shots against Guardiola's men and scored from their only shot on target.
They completed 777 passes with 94% accuracy, as opposed to 274 passes with 74% accuracy for the hosts. They kept Swansea's attackers at bay for the majority of the game while making the most of the chances afforded to them, which was key to their victory.
#4 Two quick-fire goals early in the second half decided the fate of the game
The visitors had a narrow one-goal lead heading into the second half and the game was still very much open at this point in time. Swansea came close to making the net bulge twice in the final stages of the first half, so there was still hope for a comeback for the hosts.
Well, it just took them 74 seconds to double their lead through Sterling after the game resumed when he capitalized on some lackluster defending from the Swansea to guide the ball into the bottom-right corner.
Even before the hosts could recover from this early blow, Jesus added the third goal for City. He controlled the cross from Bernardo Silva beautifully in the box. This goal proved to be the final nail in the coffin for Swansea, who could only score a late consolation goal in the 77th minute.
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#3 City have scored at least three goals in eight of their last 15 fixtures
City have been in great form in front of goal in recent games. Though they are not the highest-scoring side in the English top-flight as of now, most of their games since the new year have been high scoring affairs.
Tonight they found the back of the net three times against Swansea, the seventh occasion on which they had scored at least thrice in 2021. In their last 15 games, they have scored at least thrice in eight games.
In the same period, they have conceded just five times, which is a good sign for the runaway Premier League leaders.
#2 Pep Guardiola records his 200th win as Manchester City manager
Tonight, Pep Guardiola celebrates his 200th win as Manchester City manager. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach has been at the club since 2016 and it took him just 268 games to reach the double century of wins.
He has won eight trophies so far with the club, including two league titles and an FA Cup triumph as well in the 2018-19 season. It was a great occasion for him to mark his 200th win for the club.
If not for Whittaker's goal, he could've kept a clean sheet in this landmark win but will be happy to have secured a place in the last eight of the competition.
#1 Manchester City pick up a record-breaking 15th consecutive win across all competitions
Manchester City have added yet another feat to their growing list of records. They became the first side in the English top-flight to record 15 consecutive wins across all competitions, surpassing the previous best of 14 wins achieved by Preston in 1891-92 and Arsenal in 1987-88.
They have been unbeaten since November and it seems they have found their groove after an uncharacteristically slow start to their season. It should be noted that in their record-breaking run of 15 straight wins they have scored 40 goals and conceded just five times.
Given their current form, the hopes of lifting an unprecedented quadruple are high from them, but it remains to be seen whether their ongoing hot-streak stands the test of time.
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