Football

Manchester City Edge Past Watford 2-1 in League Cup; Chelsea Dominate with Nkunku Hat-Trick

Manchester City defeated Watford 2-1 in the English League Cup after two exciting days in the Premier League against Arsenal.

Pep Guardiola’s team proved too strong for their lower-division rivals despite their heavy rotation. Pep Guardiola, the manager of City, won the League Cup with the team four times in a row in 2018, but he stated he won’t be taking the title seriously this year.

Manchester City Edge Past Watford 2-1 in League Cup; Chelsea Dominate with Nkunku Hat-Trick
Portuguese midfielder Matheus Nunes scored the game-winning goal for Manchester City against Watford. Photo Credit: AFP

Tuesday saw the third round continue, with top-tier teams Chelsea, Aston Villa, and Leicester also making progress. City won 2-1 at Etihad Stadium thanks to goals in the first half from Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes.

Fourth-division Barrow was crushed 5-0 by Chelsea, led by a hat-trick by Christopher Nkunku, who celebrated by blowing up a blue balloon and putting it to his lips. Third-tier Wycombe was defeated 2-1 by Villa, while fourth-tier Walsall was tied 0-0 before Leicester won 3-0 in a penalty shootout.

In order to make room for the expanded Champions League and Europa League, the final 32 players in the competition will compete across two midweeks. Liverpool and Arsenal play on Wednesday; Manchester United and Tottenham were among those who advanced last week.

Although Pep Guardiola, the manager of City, led the team to four consecutive League Cup victories in 2018, he stated he won’t be taking the title seriously this year and will instead utilize the games to teach some of his bench players some rhythm.

He declared, “There’s no way we’re going to waste energy on this competition.”

Doku and Kyle Walker were the only two Man City players to start the thrilling 2-2 draw against Watford and Sunday’s matchup with Arsenal. In the fifth minute, the Belgium winger gave his team the lead by scoring from just inside the box after City had capitalized on a misdirected back ball.

With a low, left-footed effort, Nunes added the second goal in the 38th, marking the Portugal midfielder’s first goal since signing from Wolverhampton in the 2023 offseason.

Watford’s Tom Ince, son of former England midfielder Paul Ince, scored in the 86th minute. In addition, Chelsea changed up their starting lineup, making eleven changes from the squad that began Saturday’s 3-0 victory over West Ham.

By the fifteenth minute, Nkunku had already scored twice, and in the seventieth, he completed the score. Between was an own goal and Pedro Neto’s tap-in to score Chelsea’s first goal.

In addition to Emi Buendia’s first goal in the 55th minute, Colombian forward Jhon Durán added the team’s second goal in the 85th minute, scoring from the penalty spot. Durán has had an incredible start to the Villa season.

This season, in five league games, the 20-year-old Durán has scored four goals—all coming off the bench. It was in the fifth minute of stoppage time when Wycombe found solace.

Walsall took their Premier League opponent to penalty kicks at home, but was unable to complete an upset victory over Leicester.

To end the shootout as soon as possible, Walsall missed its first three efforts, while Leicester successfully converted all three of its penalties.

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