Liverpool and Man City progress in FA Cup

The Reds routed Accrington 4-0 and The Citizens thrashed Salford 8-0

LONDON:

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 Manchester City also sauntered to an 8-0 win against 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.