It was a comfortable day at the office for Manchester City against Graham Potter’s struggling Chelsea
Manchester City forward Riyad Mahrez has admitted that Julian Alvarez requested to take the first penalty in today’s 4-0 victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup.
City were fully in control from the first minute against Chelsea who made several changes. The Blues got the scoring started through Mahrez who curled home a fabulous free kick after 23 minutes.
Pep Guardiola’s team made it two from the spot with Alvarez squeezing the ball in. It was three before the break when Kyle Walker’s cross was turned home by Phil Foden.
Mahrez completed the scoring from 12 yards when he converted a penalty after Foden was fouled. After the match the Algerian forward, who was given the Man of the Match award, explained why he was given the ball to take the second penalty.
He told BBC Sport: “I was going to take the first one but Julian asked me and I said of course, take it, he’s a striker so he scores and it is good for the team. The second one I wanted to take it and it’s good.
“Everyone has been involved today and it is very good.” Victory today ensured that the Blues are still fighting in all four competitions this season and Mahrez admitted that he was pleased to see City progress.
“Of course it’s good, we always every season try to be involved in every competition,” Mahrez added. “We’re still in all of the competitions and we have to keep going. We deserve it and the way we play we have to keep playing that way.”
The fourth round draw for the competition was made before kick-off and saw City be drawn at home to either Oxford United or Arsenal. Those two sides will face each other in the last third round tie of the competition on Monday evening.