Man City beat Watford to advance in the League Cup

Guardiola’s team scores with Doku and Matheus Nunes; visitors press late and manage to reduce the deficit with Ince

SUMMARY

Manchester City knocked out Watford in the third round of the English League Cup. Guardiola’s team won 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium. With the tight schedule, Pep Guardiola decided to rest many of the group’s key players, such as Haaland, Ederson and Bernardo Silva. Even so, the home team were much stronger in the game and created good opportunities. The result qualifies City for the round of 16 of the competition. The opponent in the next phase will be defined in a draw, the date of which is yet to be announced.

HOW WAS THE DUEL?

Manchester City opened the scoring after just four minutes, with Doku, after a mistake by Watford when the ball was out of play. Grealish stole the ball and left the Belgian forward well-positioned to finish. Watford even managed to find the back of the net with their only shot in the first half, with Baah, but the move was disallowed for a foul. Matheus Nunes extended City’s lead with a pass from Rico Lewis in the 37th minute, and scored his first goal in an England shirt. The Hornets only showed strength towards the end of the game and managed to reduce the deficit with Ince in the 40th minute of the second half.