Manchester City vs Salford City LIVE: FA Cup result and reaction as hosts smash eight past outmatched visitors
Man City 8-0 Salford City: James McAtee scores a hat-trick as Pep Guardiola’s much-changed side hammer their League Two opposition
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Manchester City thrashed Salford City 8-0 in the FA Cup third round as they continue to look like they’ve put their unprecedented run of bad form behind them.
Pep Guardiola’s team have now won their last three matches, having previously suffered a run of just one win in thirteen games which saw them fall to sixth in the league.
League Two high-flyers Salford were hardly the toughest of foes but a much-changed home side still impressively smashed eight goals past them, with a hat-trick for James McAtee joined by two from the hugely impressive Jeremy Doku and one apiece from Nico O’Reilly, Jack Grealish and young striker Divin Mubama – who started up front to give Erling Haaland a rest.
Relive all the action from the Etihad Stadium below:
Jack Grealish has a weight lifted as Man City show some of the old ruthless spark
Jack Grealish needed that. It is not how he imagined his 13-month Manchester City goal drought would end – a penalty in an 8-0 FA Cupwin over fourth-tier Salford City in a non-contest where a burgeoning youngster, James McAtee, netted a hat-trick – but a weight has been lifted off his shoulders nonetheless.
Despite Pep Guardiola making an uncharacteristic number of changes to his starting XI, City showed zero mercy, as they often do against lower-ranked opponents in cup competitions, with Grealish the beating heart of the champions’ attempts to rediscover their unrelenting streak that has helped them dominate English football for so long.
That is now 25 wins in a row for the champions against lower-ranked sides since they were burned in defeat to Wigan in the Callum McManaman FA Cup final shock to the system, with the aggregate scoreline now reading 96-8 in that time.

Jack Grealish has a weight lifted as Man City show some of the old ruthless spark
Plymouth stun Brentford in FA Cup upset as Chelsea cruise through
Morgan Whittaker’s stunning late goal helped Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle pull off a major FA Cup upset with a 1-0 victory at Premier League Brentford.
Thomas Frank’s side were not at the races at the Gtech Community Stadium prior to Whittaker’s solo 82nd-minute effort which sent Argyle, who had new manager Miron Muslic watching from the stands after Wayne Rooney’s sacking a fortnight ago, into the fourth round.
Plymouth’s leaky backline, which has conceded 53 league goals this season to leave them rooted to the bottom of the second tier, was not on display in west London as valiant defending from the likes of Brendan Galloway helped caretaker boss Kevin Nancekivell secure a memorable victory and extend Argyle’s unbeaten run since Rooney’s departure to three games.

Plymouth stun Brentford in FA Cup upset as Chelsea cruise through
Chelsea made to battle before easing past Morecambe into FA Cup fourth round
Chelsea were made to wait for the floodgates to open as League TwoMorecambe put up dogged resistance before going down 5-0 in the FA Cup third round at Stamford Bridge.
There were periods in the first half when the 87 places separating these sides in the pyramid could easily be forgotten, the team currently 23rd in League Two leaving Enzo Maresca’s Champions League chasers puzzling over how they would pick their way through to round four.
That two of the five goals were blasted in from outside the penalty area by reserve defender Tosin Adarabioyo gave a sense of how short on inspiration Chelsea were for much of this match, though the 27-year-old deserved credit for showing initiative to break the deadlock late in the first half as the crowd grew nervous.

Chelsea made to battle before easing past Morecambe into FA Cup fourth round
Trent Alexander-Arnold serenades Anfield with performance of artistry and class
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s future is likelier to involve Real Madrid than Accrington Stanley. The Bernabeu may prove to be his new home but he might forever remain a stranger to the Wham Stadium in Lancashire. Accrington could not quite emulate Carlo Ancelotti’s team, losing 4-0 at Anfield, where the Champions League holders went down 2-0, but they got a glimpse of the class that prompted Real to make an approach for Alexander-Arnold last week.
A shot from 20 yards was whipped, bent, measured and caressed, designed to nestle in the top corner of the net. “I could talk for hours about that,” said Liverpool’s manager Arne Slot, “Unbelievable.” And perhaps cruel for Accrington’s manager, John Doolan, who coached Alexander-Arnold when he was six or seven and was surprised when the right-back remembered and approached him after the final whistle. “He is such a such a wonderful and humble guy,” he said. “To do that shows the class he has.”

Trent Alexander-Arnold serenades Anfield with performance of artistry and class
When is the FA Cup draw? Date, time, ball numbers and how to watch fourth round draw on TV
The FA Cup draw for the fourth round will take place after the conclusion of Arsenal vs Manchester United on Sunday, 12 January.
That match kicks off at 3pm, so the draw should be getting started shortly after 5pm GMT depending on whether or not extra-time is needed in that tie.

When is the FA Cup fourth round draw? Date, time and how to watch
Up next
City will of course go into the draw for the fourth round, while Salford will look towards the weekend – they face Fleetwood on Saturday, 18 January at 3pm.
City’s next game comes in midweek, as they face Brentford away on Tuesday, 14 January at 7.30pm.
James McAtee nets hat-trick as Man City thrash neighbours Salford in FA Cup rout
James McAtee grabbed a second-half hat-trick as Manchester City powered into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a ruthless 8-0 demolition of League Two neighbours Salford.
Jeremy Doku weighed in with two goals while Jack Grealish ended his long scoring drought and youngsters Divin Mubama and Nico O’Reilly also struck in a one-sided encounter at the Etihad Stadium.
It was a brutal exhibition by a much-changed City, whose fans revelled in the beating dished out to their ‘Class of 92’-owned visitors.

James McAtee nets hat-trick as Man City thrash neighbours Salford in FA Cup rout
Guardiola: “We won finally a game with a good margin"
In his post-match conference, Guardiola starts by giving “all respect for Salford”.
“It was not easy with the man marking but we were clinical up front and happy with the performance,” he says.
On James McAtee, he says: “I’m so happy for him, he’s a special player. Scoring a hat-trick is not easy. He started a little bit flat but afterwards he has incredible sense in front of goal. He has the right tempo, he changed the rhythm to score.
“So I’m really happy for him and for Nico O’Reilly, who was playing a position he’d never played before at left-back. Jeremy [Doku] played really good, so happy for everyone,” he adds.
On McAtee, he adds: “He’s been at City for a long time, a City supporter and he was one of the biggest talents at the academy from the generation of Jadon Sancho, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Liam Delap. He played with these guys and was the captain of them. I’m really, really pleased he’s here with us.”
On Jack Grealish, he said that the England international “is a special player, not always one to score a lot of goals but it depends on him. If he can perform well, he’ll take the opportunity to keep going and going.
“All the players depend on the performance in training sessions and when they have minutes to play. It’s simple, not just for Jack, for all of them.
“I’ve been manager here for more than 500 games and we’ve made an incredible 487 or 488 games. Then we had 11, 12 or 13 bad games.
“The problem that we’ve had is that we’ve had an incredible amount of injuries so we could not train and we could not compete. It’s so difficult but step by step, people are coming back.
“This season or maybe next season, new players come in and you have to fight for your position. When someone pushes you, you have competition and you give your best,” he says as he finishes.
Robinson: “It’s about dusting ourselves off"
Here’s what Salford boss Karl Robinson had to say after the win:
“You always know you’re at the mercy of the quality of the competition. Man City and Pep have never disrespected anybody and tonight they showed us why they are what they are and why he is who he is.
“It’s about dusting ourselves off, we’ve come on so much in 12 months and to be where we are in the league. We have one goal and that is to get out of this league. This is a glimmer of what we want to be and we know we’ve got so much to improve and we know where we want to be.
“I said to the players I would have taken eight goals conceded in seven games, I just didn’t expect them to all come in one. We’re proud of them, I really am. They never let me down.
“We make human error but that’s part of the level we’re at. Some of the things we weren’t so good at, we’ll make sure we’re better. We’ll learn because of today,” he added.
“For me, it’s not a case of me trying to pick them up or have a go at them. You take it in the chin. You hope for these glamour ties and we managed to get it. This was never a game we would look at and use as a disappointment moving forward. We make sure we plan properly for our next game.”
FT: Manchester City 8-0 Salford City
Alan Shearer has been full of praise for Grealish in the post-match analysis.
“I thought Jack Grealish did everything that he could have done. He has had a tough time and Pep has called him out,” he said.
“Pep has put him back in the team, it will have been a kick up the backside and you’ve got to go out and show a reaction and he has done that.
“He has been getting criticism and the goal will give him a bit of belief - you will be amazed with what a goal does for you.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments