Manchester City Fielded Many Core Players Despite Facing Swindon Town, The Result Was A 4-1 Win

Photo via Antara

JAKARTA - Manchester City passed fourth-tier team Swindon Town in their FA Cup third round match which they won 4-1 at The Country Ground Stadium, Friday local time.

Despite facing a team that is two leagues adrift below him, Pep Guardiola still fielded the best lineup of players such as Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus.

Gundogan and Jesus each contributed a goal in this win, as did Bernardo Silva who was plotted to fill the center forward position.

Young talent Cole Palmer completed City's 4-1 win after the hosts had scored a goal back through Harry McKirdy, according to the FA's official website.

Silva, who was placed in the middle of City's attacking trident, proved sharp in front of Swindon's goal to open the visitors' advantage in the 14th minute with a simple flick of a Palmer pull-back.

The lead was doubled by a calm Jesus completing a through ball from De Bruyne to slot the ball into the bottom right corner of the home net in the 28th minute.

City's 2-0 score lasted until half-time before Gundogan scored a beautiful goal in the 59th minute with a free-kick that curled past Swindon's fence and out of reach of goalkeeper Lewis Ward.

City had the chance to increase their lead again when Jesus was brought down by Jordan Lyden inside the box, but the Brazilian forward had his penalty saved by Ward.

As Ward saved Jesus' penalty, the home crowd cheered again as his team reaped the rewards of their hard work to score in the 78th minute with McKirdy's shot completing Jonathan Williams' pass.

However, four minutes later City confirmed the class difference between themselves and Swindon when Palmer marked his fine form with a goal, snatching the ball from Silva's shot.

A minute before the dispersal of normal time, Rodri Hernandez almost listed his name on the scoreboard but his shot was saved by Ward and ended up hitting the crossbar so that the 4-1 score for City did not change until dispersal.