The England international trio of Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish were not in the Manchester City squad that saw off League Two team Swindon Town to book their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup. The three England players were missing in a Manchester City squad depleted by several Covid-19 situations involving manager Pep Guardiola, some players and some coaching crew members.

Despite the absence of several first team players including the three aforementioned England attacking talents, Manchester City had too much quality for their hosts on the way to a big win. The Citizens finished off the third round tie with four goals while their lower league opponents managed to register one goal.

Portuguese international Bernardo Silva started the floodgate of goals inside fourteen (14) minutes before Brazilian international Gabriel Jesus doubled the advantage two minutes shy of the half hour mark to put the Premier League leaders in a fantastic position for qualification as far as the FA Cup fourth round is concerned. They led 2-0 at the break in the third round tie.

German midfielder IlkayGundogan scored the third goal for Manchester City in the 58^th minute before a goal apiece for the two teams ensured that the game ended in a 4-1 win for the visiting team. Harry McKirdyscored what turned out to be a consolation goal for the  hosts on 78 minutes and four minutes afterwards the impressive Cole Palmer rounded off the scoring with the fourth City strike. City could have scored more after Jesus missed a second half penalty.

Manchester City didn’t have to do too much to beat their League Two opponentsto move into the next round with manager Pep Guardiola bidding to win just a second FA Cup title of his career. Leicester City are the defending champions after they defeated Chelsea 1-0 in the final last season.