Softfootball understands that Manchester City carried on their winning streak, making it six wins in a row across all competitions after a comfortable 2-0 home victory against Brentford, booking a spot in the Carabao Cup semi-finals. It wasn’t the most thrilling night, but City controlled the game well enough and got the result they wanted.
Manchester City shared a post of the result via their official X account.
View the post below:
Pep Guardiola made plenty of changes, seven in total, from the team that beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at the weekend, following their 2-1 victory against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Brentford also reshuffled heavily, with six changes from their 1-1 draw with Leeds United earlier that day. Despite all the rotations, City looked sharper from the off.
Oscar Bobb was handed a start and looked lively, cutting inside and firing straight at Hákon Valdimarsson after 14 minutes. But his night ended shortly after, limping off with an injury and making way for Phil Foden.
City had a nervous moment when Abdukodir Khusanov pulled down Kevin Schade on a breakaway but luckily escaped with just a yellow.
City finally broke through 13 minutes before half-time. Valdimarsson punched a corner straight to Rayan Cherki, who took a touch and fired an unstoppable shot into the top corner. That was Cherki’s 11th goal involvement of the season and gave City the lead they deserved.
Brentford tried to respond in the second half. Kristoffer Ajer and Michael Kayode both forced saves from James Trafford, and Valdimarsson kept out a close-range Foden effort.
But City wasn’t done yet. In the 67th minute, Savinho drove down the left and let fly, his shot deflecting off Ajer and looping over the goalkeeper into the net. Not the prettiest goal, but it sealed the win for the hosts.
City managed the rest of the game comfortably, keeping their hopes alive of winning the Carabao Cup for the ninth time. Brentford, meanwhile, have now lost their last five away matches and failed to score in four of them, before a crucial Premier League trip to bottom side Wolves on Saturday.
