FA Cup results: City scores 10

Chelsea are off to a great start to their new manager’s era. Tottenham add another disappointment to their season by losing one of the three Premier League derbies at home to Aston Villa. Manchester City goes too far and scores 10 against an unfortunate League One team. Here’s what happened on Saturday of the 3rd round of the FA Cup, opened by the most sensational surprise in the history of the competition: the elimination of Crystal Palace, holders of the trophy, at the hands of Macclesfield, a sixth-tier team.

THE DEBUT

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Liam Rosenior makes no mistakes in his first as Chelsea manager: in the cold of The Valley, Charlton’s home in south-east London, the Blues begin the era of their new manager with a peremptory 5-1 over the 19th team in the Championship. The coach does what he promised, give the young players a chance: he chooses what have so far been the second lines and is not disappointed. In injury time in the first half he unlocked Jorrel Hato, full back when the team defends and number 10 when attacking, in the second half the goals from Tosin and Marc Guiu sandwich Charlton’s momentary hope of a comeback sparked by Miles Leaburn. In the final, the Blues become superior and Neto and Fernandez on a penalty in added time complete the top five. Chelsea’s victory was more than deserved: clear superiority, ball possession, many ideas, many opportunities, many goals. The limited value of the opponent suggests postponing definitive judgments until the next matches, starting with Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal, but the start of the Rosenior era has certainly been positive.

STATISTICS

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Sensational 10-1 by Manchester City (a brace from Rico Lewis, two own goals and 7 different scorers, including the new signing Semenyo) against the unfortunate Exeter City, 14th in League One. Not since 1986 has a Premier League team scored 10 goals in a competitive match. However large the victory was for Pep Guardiola’s team, it is nowhere near the competition record, which remains Preston’s 26-0 defeat of Hyde FC on 15 October 1887.

THE PREMIER

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Aston Villa wins the most interesting of the three Premier derbies of the day, passing 2-1 at Tottenham. Dominant first half for Emery’s team, with goals from Emi Buendia and Morgan Rogers, Spurs reaction in the second half with Odobert’s goal in the 54th minute which reopens the match. Tottenham out on their FA Cup debut for the first time since 2014, with their second consecutive defeat, without a win in 4 games and with another disappointment to deal with. Newcastle eliminated Bournemouth 7-6 on penalties after 120 minutes full of twists and turns, with extra time forced by a goal from Gordon in the 95th minute and penalties from the 3-3 scored by Tavernier in added time in the second extra period. Sandro Tonali also scored in the sequence from the spot. Everton-Sunderland also ended in penalties, the third match of the day in the entire Premier League: Regis LeBris’s team earned passage to the next round after Moyes’ team missed all the attempted spot kicks (second time in history for a top-flight team). Palace sensationally eliminated is the only other Premier team eliminated. Wolverhampton (6-1 at Srewsbury Town), Burnley (5-1 at Milwall), Fulham (3-1 at Middlesbrough) and Brentford (2-0 at Sheffield Wednesday) move forward.

THE PROGRAM

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The third round continues tomorrow with 8 matches, including top-of-the-class Arsenal in Portsmouth (3pm) and the all-Premier clash between Manchester United and Brighton (5.30pm). Liverpool-Barnsley on Monday (8.45pm), preceded by the draw for the 4th round scheduled for the weekend of 14-15 February.