Manchester City's quest for a sixth FA Cup crown got off to a positive start this afternoon courtesy of a 3-0 victory away at fellow Premier League side Norwich City.
The third-round tie at Carrow Road was ultimately settled by City's strike duo of Sergio Aguero and Kelechi Iheanacho, who helped themselves to a goal each and caused a host of problems for the Norwich defence over the course of the 90 minutes.
© AFP
Alex Neil's Norwich actually started the encounter on the front foot, yet it was the visitors from Manchester that created the clearest goalscoring opportunities.
Returning Canaries goalkeeper John Ruddy thwarted Aleksandar Kolarov and Iheanacho in quick succession, but he was powerless when it came to preventing City from taking the lead in the 16th minute.
Raheem Sterling flicked the ball into the path of Aguero and having danced his way beyond numerous challenges, the Argentine went on to poke the ball out of Ruddy's reach. It was Aguero's fifth goal in as many FA Cup outings and he would also have a role in City's second strike 14 minutes later, albeit a supporting one.
It was his pass that picked out Iheanacho and on this occasion the 19-year-old made no mistake by scoring what was his third goal in his last five appearances for the Citizens from close range.
City's dynamic strike pairing continued to be a thorn in the side of the Norwich rearguard and they almost carved out a third goal nine minutes after the restart, only for Iheanacho to curl his effort straight at Ruddy.
Aguero was substituted with 20 minutes remaining, but that did little to lessen City's attacking threat. Moments after the talisman's exit Spanish winger Jesus Navas rattled the woodwork, while Ruddy was alert to deny Kevin De Bruyne from the rebound.
De Bruyne, who replaced Sterling earlier in the game, had better luck in the 78th minute, though. The Belgium international weaved his way past Russell Martin and Ryan Bennett and then fired a low shot that Ruddy could only help into the net.
Norwich went close to scoring a consolation in the 82nd minute in what was the game's final piece of action when Kyle Lafferty looped a header goalwards. However, City's deputy goalkeeper Willy Caballero was able to produce good enough reflexes to claw away the danger.
