Swindon v Manchester City ratings: Ward 5, McKirdy 7; Cancelo 8, Palmer 9

Covid-hit City cruise into FA Cup fourth round

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  SWINDON TOWN RATINGS: Lewis Ward - 5, Got away with a poor kick that went straight to Kevin De Bruyne, but wasn’t so lucky after playing a pass to Louis Reed that wasn’t the best. Will have been disappointed with the free kick that beat him but had moments to savour after saving Gabriel Jesus’ penalty and Rodrigo’s strike. Reuters

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  Rob Hunt - 5, Showed good awareness to make some blocks and interventions, though he did get away with being caught trying to play out from the back. AP

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  Akin Odimayo - 5, Got away with a poor header that went to Bernardo Silva but put in a lot of good defensive work and made some nice blocks. AFP

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  Dion Conroy - 3, Completely lost Silva for the opener, while it seemed to be his decision to play out that led to City’s second. However, he did make some good blocks, with one denying Ilkay Gundogan, then made a great sliding tackle to stop Cancelo. Almost played Ward into trouble with a poor back pass. AP

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  Kaine Kesler - 7, Looked confident in both defence and attack, doing brilliantly to recover when it looked like Jesus might get through before showing composure to keep possession. He also made a great challenge on Palmer. Getty

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  Jordan Lyden - 4, Put in a great block to deny De Bruyne, while he was unlucky not to find Simpson with a good cross. However, he conceded a penalty with a clumsy challenge. PA

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  Louis Reed - 4, Battled well throughout and came close to finding Harry McKirdy with a through ball but it was his poor flick that conceded possession for the visitors’ second. Reuters

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  Ben Gladwin - 5, Worked hard for the team throughout and pressed right until the moment he was taken off. AFP

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  Ellis Iandolo - 5, Had a torrid time against Cole Palmer in the first half, being turned inside out by the City academy graduate before being nutmegged by him later on. Showed persistence to keep working hard throughout and had a good period in the second half. AP

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  Tyreece Simpson - 6, Wasn’t afraid to burst forward when the opportunity arose and held the ball up well at times. AP

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  Harry McKirdy - 7, Looked busy and tried to make things happen, taking City’s defence on by himself at times. While his effort wasn’t the best when an Zack Steffen cheaply conceded possession, he didn’t give up and got his goal with a good touch and finish. Reuters

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  SUBS: Jonny Williams (Gladwin, 71’) – N/R, Conceded the ball cheaply in the middle of the pitch, but did brilliantly to tee up McKirdy when Rodrigo did the same. PA

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  Romoney Critchlow (Odimayo, 71’) – N/R, Did well to get on the end of Iandolo’s cross but could only divert it over the crossbar. AP

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  Harry Parsons (Simpson, 83’) – N/R, Couldn’t get enough on his shot to beat Steffen after getting behind the defence. AP

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  Ryan East (Reed, 87’) – N/R, Came on for the final few minutes with the game out of reach. Mohammad Dabre (McKirdy, 87’) – N/R, Looked lively and tried to make things happen after coming on. AP

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  MANCHESTER CITY RATINGS: Zack Steffen - 5, Did well to get on to Ruben Dias’ pass ahead of McKirdy, then gave the ball to McKirdy but recovered well to save his shot. Will feel that he should have done better with McKirdy’s goal. Reuters

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  Kyle Walker - 6, Made a good clearance to deny Lyden’s attempted cross to Simpson, though his shot while off-balance wasn’t quite as good. Booked for a foul on Iandolo. AP

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  Ruben Dias - 5, Had a couple of sloppy moments and was saved by Steffen when his poor pass back was almost intercepted by McKirdy. Reuters

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  Nathan Ake - 7, Was unlucky to see his header come off Rodrigo in the opposition box but often looked authoritative defensively. Getty

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  Joao Cancelo - 8, Made a great run and pass for Bernardo Silva’s early chance and did well to prevent a header at the back post. Came close with a couple of efforts, one of which was a truly sweet strike. PA

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  Kevin De Bruyne - 7, After seeing a weak effort saved by Ward, the Belgian played a perfectly weighted pass to set up Jesus. Was hit by a big challenge from Iandolo. AP

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  Rodrigo - 5, Should have done better when he had a free header in the box, with his attempt eventually being blocked, though he did the basics well throughout. Was booked for a cynical push on Kesler and gave the ball away cheaply for Swindon’s goal. Was unlucky not to have a goal of his own. Getty

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  Ilkay Gundogan - 7, Gave the ball away cheaply a few times, but helped to break the lines on a regular basis and caught the goalkeeper out with a free kick that bent around the wall. Had a nice shot denied by Ward. AP

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  Cole Palmer - 9, Displayed intent immediately and saw a shot deflected over within the first minute. He easily had the better of Iandolo and showed superb feet to get past his man and set up Silva for the opener. Continued posing problems until the very end and capped his impressive performance with a wonderfully taken goal. AP

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  Bernardo Silva - 8, While the Portuguese showed lovely movement for the opening goal, he will feel he should have had more goals after wasting some good chances. Continued to show ingenuity throughout. AP

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  Gabriel Jesus - 7, Had some threatening passages of play before clinically scoring City’s second goal of the game. However, his penalty attempt was a very poor one. AP

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  SUBS: SUB James McAtee (De Bruyne, 66’) - 5, Took up some good positions but sent his only shot over the crossbar. Couldn’t capitalise on Conroy’s poor back pass as he was tackled by Ward. Was booked for a foul on Williams. AP

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  Romeo Lavia (Gundogan, 83’) – N/R, Did well to reach Jesus’ through ball, even if nothing came of it and got some good touches in. AP

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  Luke Mbete (Ake, 86’) – N/R, Allowed Parsons to get behind him but will be pleased not to have conceded while on the pitch. SUB Kayky (Palmer, 86’) – N/R, Making his debut, the Brazilian teenager didn’t look out of play and got some nice touches in. PA

Manchester City comfortably beat League Two Swindon 4-1 to book their place in the FA Cup fourth round.

Bernardo Silva struck first in the 14th minute to open the scoring before Gabriel Jesus capitalised on a defensive error just before the half-hour mark.

In the second half, City controlled the game and Ilkay Gundogan added to the score with a direct free-kick in the 59th minute as they finished with 78 per cent of possession and 22 shots including eight on target.

Swindon’s Harry McKirdy scored a consolation goal but City added a fourth through Cole Palmer in the final 10 minutes.

There was doubt the tie would go ahead as City currently have 21 members of their “first-team bubble” isolating after testing positive for Covid-19, including manager Pep Guardiola and seven players.

However despite the absences, City named a strong starting XI as stand-in manager Rodolfo Borrell made just four changes from the club’s victory over Arsenal at the weekend.

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