Manchester City shattered Salford City’s FA Cup hopes with a commanding 8-0 victory on Saturday, while Liverpool secured a 4-0 win over Accrington Stanley to advance to the fourth round.
Chelsea delivered another standout performance, crushing Morecambe 5-0, while Brentford suffered an unexpected defeat as Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle stunned them 1-0 with a late strike by Morgan Whittaker.
League Two side Salford City, backed by former Manchester United stars David Beckham, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and Nicky Butt, has risen through the ranks since their 2014 investment. However, the dream of a cup upset ended at the Etihad Stadium, where Scholes, Butt, and director of football Giggs watched their team succumb to a ruthless Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola rotated his squad, resting Erling Haaland, but Manchester City’s dominance remained. Jeremy Doku opened the scoring just eight minutes in, with youngsters Divin Mubama and Nico O’Reilly extending the lead to 3-0 by halftime.
Jack Grealish converted a penalty for his first goal in over a year, while Doku added another from the spot. James McAtee stole the spotlight, completing a stunning 20-minute second-half hat trick to seal City’s emphatic victory.
At Anfield, Liverpool maintained control against Accrington Stanley despite manager Arne Slot making eight changes to his starting lineup. Trent Alexander-Arnold captained the Reds in the absence of Virgil van Dijk and silenced recent criticism with an inspiring performance.
Diogo Jota broke the deadlock in the 29th minute, tapping in a low cross from Darwin Nunez. Moments later, Alexander-Arnold doubled Liverpool’s lead with a sensational long-range strike into the top corner.
Jayden Danns added a third before Federico Chiesa scored his first goal for Liverpool following an injury-hit start to his career in England.
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