FA Cup 3rd Round: Man City make lightwork of Chelsea as Mahrez stars with brace; pressure mounts on Potter

Manchester City made lightwork of Chelsea in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday (January 8) after they beat the London side by 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium. A brace from Riyad Mahrez was coupled with goals from Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden as City punched their ticket to the fourth round of the FA Cup, where they will face the winner of Arsenal and Oxford United.

City on target

City were three up at half-time thanks to Riyad Mahrez's magnificent free-kick, Julian Alvarez's penalty and Phil Foden's tremendous team goal. Mahrez added his second and City's fourth from the spot late on to further underline the gulf between the two teams.

Pep Guardiola's team can look forward to a tie at home to Arsenal if the Premier League leaders overcome Oxford United on Monday evening. As for Chelsea, it is the first time this century that the Blues find themselves not among the clubs in the fourth round.

The result adds to the pressure on Potter, who was only appointed in September. Chelsea have now lost six of their last nine matches in all competitions and have not tasted victory away from home since beating Red Bull Salzburg in October.

It was Mahrez who scored the only goal of the game when these teams met in the Premier League on Thursday and he broke the deadlock again here. His curling free-kick from the right edge of the box arrowed into the top corner beyond Kepa Arrizabalaga's dive.

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Tough day at office for Chelsea

If Chelsea could do little to stop that, the second was self-inflicted. Kai Havertz led with his hand when trying to clear a corner at the near post and the VAR could not miss it. Alvarez, starting for the first time since his World Cup win with Argentina, just about beat Kepa.

City had dropped points against Brentford and Everton in their last two Premier League games in front of their home supporters but they did not go two up then. With that advantage, the confidence grew and Guardiola's side really started to purr.