Bernardo Silva notches brace as Man City stroll past Birmingham in FA Cup

Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden Man City

Manchester City made it through to the fourth round of the FA Cup by beating Birmingham City 3-0.

Bernardo Silva scored a brace before Phil Foden added a third – all before half-time – to make it six wins in a row in all competitions for last season’s semi-finalists.

City flexed their muscles early on when Kevin de Bruyne snuck in down the right after a neat pass inside. However, the visitors recovered to snuff out the danger.

The hosts kept coming, though, and the pressure told after only eight minutes with Silva’s spectacular first.

After a clearance from George Friend, the Portuguese sliced the bouncing ball first time – but with excellent technique – to rifle it into the roof of the net.

Pep Guardiola‘s men have shown a resurgence in recent weeks and they were in the mood on Sunday. Riyad Mahrez’s excellent pass set up De Bruyne, who allowed Silva to tap in to put City two up after 15 minutes.

Phil Foden Man City

It was 3-0 just after the half-hour mark, Mahrez this time claiming an assist for Foden‘s strike into the bottom right-hand corner.

De Bruyne was, as ever, influential and his fantastic arcing, cross-field ball found Foden, who could not get an angle to shoot.

City continue to show class in second half

City began the second half in similar fashion, dominating the ball as Birmingham looked to stage a fightback.

Indeed, the Championship outfit improved in the second half, but City still caused them problems when they dropped their guard.

Mikel San Jose had to clear a lob from Gabriel Jesus off the line, before Silva had another chance from the following corner.

City thought they had a fourth when Mahrez slotted home, but the linesman deemed him to be offside – and VAR confirmed it was the correct decision.

Silva continued his hunt for a hat-trick, but pulled his latest effort wide as the game approached its final 20 minutes.

There was to be no change to the scoreline, meaning there was no treble for Silva. However, the damage had already been done, with City earning their place in the next round.