Man City v Plymouth LIVE: FA Cup result as O’Reilly brace helps hosts come from behind to earn win

The road to the FA Cup final continues this weekend as 16 sides bid to book a place in the quarter-finals.

Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle are among the top-flight sides vying for a place in the last eight, with Liverpool and Arsenal having already exited the competition, while Aston Villa beat Cardiff on Friday night to book their spot.

Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Fulham will be among the Premier League teams looking to build on good league form by booking a rare date at Wembley come April.

Preston beat fellow Championship side Burnley on Saturday to reach the quarter-finals, as Crystal Palace saw off south London neighbours Millwall, before Bournemouth edged Wolves in a dramatic penalty shootout.

City’s next match takes them to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest next weekend. That is the early kick-off on Saturday, 8 March, so it should begin at 12.30pm.

Plymouth will return to their fight for Championship survival, as they face 21st-place Hull City away on Wednesday, 4 March at 7.45pm. Win that match and the club will be in the relegation zone on goal difference alone.

There are three more matches to come in the fifth round, with two taking place tomorrow.

Newcastle host Brighton at 1.45pm on Sunday, before Manchester United face Fulham at Old Trafford, with kick-off at 4.30pm in that one.

On Monday night, the fifth round concludes with Nottingham Forest taking on Ipswich at the City Ground (7.30pm).

This result means that we now know five of the eight teams who will contest the quarter-finals of the 2024/25 FA Cup.

Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Preston North End, Bournemouth and City are the five sides confirmed to be in tomorrow’s draw for the last eight.

Here are the full results so far:

Aston Villa 2-0 Cardiff City

Crystal Palace 3-1 Millwall

Preston North End 3-0 Burnley

Bournemouth 1-1 Wolves (5-4 on pens)

Manchester City 3-1 Plymouth Argyle

Plymouth boss Muslic says that his side “gave them a game, we made it very difficult, not allowing them a lot in open play”.

“We can only be disappointed with the result, but proud of the performance,” he adds.

“We deserved the lead, we used our chances. We concede with the last action of the first half, but that’s just how it is. We tried right until the end.

On whether the corner for City’s second should have been a goal kick, he says: “These moments are a part of football.”

“This will give us a confident boost. My first message to the team was that I want to stabilise us, it should be hard to play against us.

“We proved this tonight, it will give us a boost for the future,” he says as he finishes.

City boss Pep Guardiola said that his side “played a good game” today.

It’s not just possession. The possession is for that [chances]. They make our job so difficult, incredibly organised, but we played a good game.

“We concede a goal, but we were so solid,” he adds.

He calls O’Reilly “a different type of academy player, he can play in three or four positions, I’m really pleased for the game he played”.

On De Bruyne, he adds: “He’s maybe one of the three best players in the history of this club, without a doubt.”

On the importance of the FA Cup, he finishes by saying: “We know how important it is. Now we are going to fight, and we’re going to see what happens.”

Plymouth goalscorer Talovierov says he is “so happy to play here against one of the best teams in the world, against really fantastic players”.

“We’re upset because of the result but I hope our fans are proud.

“We really appreciated our fans, every player, we just tried to do our best.

He adds that his father “sends me a lot of info about the strikers!”, though “we didn’t speak a lot about scoring, but it really helps me a lot!”

He adds that he has not seen his father in around three years due to the situation in Ukraine, saying that “of course, I have a really hard situation, but these few hours per day we have just to focus on the game, well football really helps us to forget it”.

Man of the match Nico O’Reilly is first to react as he speaks to ITV.

He says that his goal lifted spirits, as “going into half-time at 1-0 would’ve been tough”.

He adds that it’s the first time he’s scored a brace since “back in the academy days”, before calling De Bruyne “an amazing player”.

“He always works 100 per cent and it’s a pleasure to play with him.”

O’Reilly goes on to call the FA Cup “a big competition, and we want to win it”.

“Plymouth were a very good team, very physical, and congratulations to them getting this far,” he adds.

Plymouth exit the FA Cup with some souvenirs, after swapping shirts with Haaland, Foden, Silva and Grealish, many a new admirer and quite a lot of credit in the bank, to add to the financial boost their cup run has provided. City were nowhere near as good as a shot count of 28-1 suggested but they go through.

The referee brings the match to an end and City earn a deserved win, but it's a performance that Plymouth will take plenty of heart from.