Riyadh Mahrez scored a brace to help Man City produce one of the comprehensive football scores of the weekend in the FA Cup. Riyad Mahrez’s outstanding free kick, Julian Alvarez’s crucial penalty, and Phil Foden’s outstanding team goal gave City a three-goal lead at the break. Late in the game, Mahrez added his second and City’s fourth from the penalty spot to highlight the gap between the two teams even more. If the Premier League leaders defeat Oxford United on Monday night, Pep Guardiola’s team can anticipate hosting Arsenal. The fact that Chelsea is not one of the clubs in the fourth round is a first for the club this century.
When these clubs played on Thursday in the Premier League, Mahrez scored the game’s lone goal, and he did so once more in this match. Beyond Kepa Arrizabalaga’s dive, his curling free kick from the right edge of the box arrowed into the top corner. The second was self-inflicted, even if Chelsea had little power to stop it. When Kai Havertz attempted to clear a corner at the near post, he lead with his hand, making it impossible for the VAR to overlook it. Alvarez nearly defeated Kepa in his first start since helping Argentina win the World Cup.
In front of their home crowds, City had lost their previous two Premier League games to Brentford and Everton, although they did not go up two that time. With that edge, Guardiola’s team began to really thrive as their confidence soared. What a first-half goal it was, their third. They began to move as a result of Kyle Walker’s deception, with Foden and Rodri trading flicks, Mahrez spotting Walker’s overlapping run, and Foden tapping in from close range. It was a goal typical of the finest of this City team. After that, the action slowed down, but a brilliant move by Kalidou Koulibaly that forced Foden to the ground inadvertently resulted in the fourth goal forced the referee to point to the spot.
One might even make the case that Alvarez, rather than the team’s prolific scorer Erling Haaland, standing there and hammering goals himself, makes City look more fluid up front. In either case, it is the kind of issue that Potter would like to experience. After earlier singing the name of the now-deceased owner Roman Abramovich, portions of the 8,000-person traveling support sang the name of his predecessor Thomas Tuchel throughout the second half. There are problems at Chelsea. Man City’s machinery keeps working.
“The man had changed. I was entirely impartial. He wasn’t performing at the same level as he is now. I occasionally have to let them see the reflection of who they really are. It is not about the quality; in football, you must exert more effort,” Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said. “But he has been performing pretty well since the World Cup. A wonderful free-kick, and he had a superb game, playing both narrow and wider. a decent game.”
“We played a top team in a very heated match. FA Cup round following. I’m glad to still be there,” he added. “We have amazing players and people, in my opinion. We don’t give them time to consider it because we are so ravenously hungry. They were pressed for time. That occurs because we are still living. When these tasks are neglected, you notice as a manager that something is dropping. As a manager, it is simple for me since I can show them the videos and instruct them on what they should be doing. This is what we must carry out.”
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