March 01, (THEWILL) – Manchester City advanced to the final eight of the FA Cup on Tuesday night, after defeating a spirited Peterborough team 2-0.
The Premier League leaders struggled to make an impact in the first half, but found their clinical touch after the break, with goals from Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish paying dividends for all of their typical ball retention.
From the opening whistle, City sought for the breakthrough, even passing the ball about inside the Peterborough penalty area at times, just waiting to break through a wall of blue.
However, it was the hosts who came closest in the early phases. Jeando Fuchs sprinted into the area after latching onto a long ball forward, only to see his deflected attempt firmly palmed around the post by Ederson Moraes.
Peterborough were never afraid to break forward in numbers, but they were content to keep a defensive line 18 yards out from goal for the majority of the first quarter. Despite their pressure and possession inside the hosts’ half, City were disappointingly unable to break down the opponent’s backline.
For the visitors, Ilkay Gundogan’s speculative curling effort from roughly 20 yards out whistled just past the post, while Gabriel Jesus also had a chance to open the scoring.
However, the Brazilian blew his golden opportunity to put his team ahead on the stroke of halftime, air-kicking at the ball after controlling Joao Cancelo’s magnificent lofted pass and giving the home crowd something to giggle about.
Despite seeing City play around their box at will, Peterborough headed into the interval the happier of the two sides, with their visitors failing to register an effort on goal despite having 77 percent possession, ten corners, and seven more efforts on goal than the hosts.
If Grant McCann’s players were happy before the interval, they must have been overjoyed after a flurry of second-half attacks saw them break into City’s box twice inside a few minutes of the restart. However, some bad finishing and a superb defensive effort by Phil Foden ensured that the hosts did not score a surprise goal.
Peterborough’s euphoria was short-lived, as Mahrez demonstrated why his team is top of the Premier League just after the hour mark. The Algerian scooped up Foden’s pass on the right side before racing into the box, executing a few stepovers and giving Benda no chance as he curled the ball into the far corner.
Then, Grealish scored his first FA Cup goal after just seven minutes for the Cityzens to extend their lead and seal their hosts’ fate. Foden provided the assist once more, this time with a truly magnificent long diagonal that was brought down sweetly by Grealish, who had no trouble sliding home beyond the onrushing Benda.
Grealish came near to making it three late on, but an outstretched Benda barely missed a fantastic attempt intended for the top corner, while half-time substitute Aymeric Laporte also failed to convert an opportunity from about two yards away.
Guardiola’s men will now return to Premier League issues, with a mouth-watering match against city rivals Manchester United on the horizon, before playing out the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 campaign against Sporting next week.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
