By Martyn Herman
LONDON, England (Reuters) -Liverpool cruised past fourth-tier Accrington Stanley and Manchester City made equally light work of Salford City as Premier League clubs flexed their muscles on a largely shock-free day of FA Cup third round action on Saturday.
Liverpool won 4-0 at Anfield while in a later kickoff a much-changed City also sauntered to a 7-0 win against a Salford, a club co-owned by several former Manchester United greats.
The day’s only big surprise arrived at Brentford where the Premier League side were beaten 1-0 at home by the second tier’s bottom club Plymouth Argyle.
Six other top-flight clubs eased past lower division opposition into round four — Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brighton and Hove Albion.
Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s first-half goals and strikes from Jayden Danns and Federico Chiesa after the break sealed Liverpool’s path in manager Arne Slot’s first FA Cup tie.
Accrington were holding their own against the Premier League leaders but Alexander-Arnold, wearing the captain’s armband amid intense speculation about his future, smashed a shot into the top corner just before halftime to put Liverpool in control.
“I can talk for hours about that! Unbelievable!” Slot said of Alexander-Arnold’s effort, adding that he had been impressed with the fullback after he was widely-criticised for his display against Manchester United last week.
“I think it was good for him to play again in our own stadium, to feel the reception of the fans again.”
City have shown signs of returning to form after an horrendous slump at the end of last year and they were in a ruthless mood against Salford who are co-owned by former United teammates Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and David Beckham.
Sadly for Salford, none of those were available as City ran riot with James McAtee scoring a hat-trick. Pep Guardiola made nine changes to the side that beat West Ham United in their last game with Divin Mubama marking his senior debut with a goal.
Mubama doubled City’s lead with a tap in after Jeremy Doku had given the hosts the advantage in the eighth minute and the hosts were out of sight when Nico O’Reilly scored his first City goal just before halftime.
Jack Grealish joined the party when he earned and then converted a penalty in the 49th minute before McAtee’s quickfire treble and a Doku spot kick completed the rout.
‘SPECIAL MOMENT’
“I was quite frustrated in the first half, wasn’t seeing much of the ball. When the first one went in, my confidence was up and I kept scoring,” McAtee said of his hat-trick.
“I’ve been here since I was 10 and it’s a special moment for me. Something I’ll remember forever.”
Championship strugglers Plymouth, who recently parted company with manager Wayne Rooney, ended an 11-match winless streak in style with Morgan Whittaker’s low left-foot drive in the 82nd minute sending the away faithful into raptures.
It was Plymouth’s first victory over a top-flight club for more than 40 years.
Chelsea booked their place in round four with a 5-0 hammering of a Morecambe side who are second from bottom in the fourth tier — Tosin Adarabioyo scoring twice for Enzo Maresca’s side who enjoyed a first win in five games.
Joao Felix also helped himself to a double late on while Christopher Nkunku was also on target for Chelsea.
Premier League high-flyers Nottingham Forest stretched their winning run to seven games as goals by Ryan Yates and Ramon Sosa earned them a 2-0 win against managerless Luton Town.
Bournemouth fell behind early on against second-tier West Bromwich Albion but moved through the gears to win 5-1 and extend their unbeaten run to nine games.
Caleb Taylor gave West Brom the lead but Dango Ouattara scored twice as Bournemouth stormed back.
Georginio Rutter’s first-half brace eased Brighton to an impressive 4-0 win at Championship side Norwich City while Wolverhampton Wanderers won 2-1 at Bristol City.
Leicester City could forget about their Premier League relegation fears for one day as they beat second-tier Queens Park Rangers 6-2 at a misty King Power Stadium.
James Justin poked in Leicester’s opener and after Jonathan Varane equalised for QPR, Stephy Mavididi and Facundo Buonanotte made it 3-1 only for Rayan Kolli to give the visitors a lifeline just before the interval.
Jamie Vardy converted a penalty on his 38th birthday to restore Leicester’s two-goal lead before Justin grabbed his second and Wout Faes smashed in Leicester’s sixth.
League One (third-tier) Exeter City reached the fourth round for the first time in 44 years as they upset second-tier Oxford United 3-1.
Holders Manchester United begin their defence of the trophy at Arsenal on Sunday while Tottenham Hotspur are away at minor league outfit Tamworth.
(Reporting by Martyn HermanEditing by Toby Davis)
