As it happened: Manchester City 3-0 Birmingham City

That brings an end to VAVEL's coverage of Manchester City's 3-0 over Birmingham City at the Etihad Stadium.

 

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And that's the game! City progress through to Round Four with ease, beating Birmingham 3-0 thanks to goals from Bernardo Silva (2) and Phil Foden. Birmingham were much improved in the second half, but Pep Guardiola will be happy with his teams performance. 

Bela has posed a huge threat to City since coming on, beating his man once more and forcing Steffen to make a good stop.

Jeremie Bela skips past Walker and drives into the box, opting to shoot instead of squaring to Jutkiewicz. Bela perhaps made the wrong choice there. 

Phil Foden is put through one-on-one, but Marc Roberts does extremely well to track back and intercept Foden. Great defending there. 

Gabriel Jesus is off and 17-year-old Liam Delap is on. Great chance for the youngster to impress Pep here. 

Bela tries his luck from distance, shooting into the gloves of Steffen who collects comfortably. Positive play from Birmingham there. 

Fernandinho is on for Rodri and Lukas Jutkiewicz and Jeremie Bela are on for Jonathan Leko and Ivan Sunjic. 

Mahrez loses his marker and slots the ball home through the legs of Prieto, but the goal is disallowed for offside with Marhez making his run too early. Good line from the Birmingham defence there. 

A City corner is delivered with pace, falling inside the six yard box but Prieto is there to smother the ball and clear the ball to safety. Good keeping from the Spaniard. 

City are keeping possession, but in defensive areas where they can't hurt Birmingham. City have their 3-0 lead so are happy to keep Birmingham off the ball. 

Both sides have made changes as John Stones, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Felix Nmecha have come on for City, wheras Birmingham have introduced Marc Roberts and Adam Clayton. 

The players are out and the second half is underway!

An expected pattern to the play, City dominating and Birmingham happy to sit back. Goals from Bernardo Silva (2) and Phil Foden see Pep Guardiola's men with a comfy lead at the half-time break. 

And that's half time! 

City win a free kick on the edge of the Birmingham box after a clumsy Sunjic tackle. Mahrez takes and his effort sails over the bar. 

Scott Hogan finds space out wide and drives inside the box, where he fizzes in a cross which is collected in the nick of time by City keeper Zack Steffen.

De Bruyne plays a perfect pass to Jesus, who cleverly dinks Prieto but Kieftenbeld is alert to clear off the line. 

Foden finds space outside the box, and curls an effort past Prieto to put the game out of sight. City dominant as expected.

Foden gets a deserved goal in some style!

A long ball forward from the City defence is latched onto from Foden, but San Jose slides in, taking out Foden. The decision goes to VAR but the challenge was deemed to be outside the box, meaning no penalty.

Kevin De Bruyne plays a perfect through ball into Gabriel Jesus, who opts to shoot into the chest of Prieto instead of pulling the ball back to a free Sliva. Corner City. 

Jon Toral has a slight leg issue after a lunging challenge on Kyle Walker. Toral is off momentarily but swiftly returns onto the pitch after treatment. 

Birmingham show some attacking threat as Jonathan Leko slips past Joao Cancelo into the box before being intercepted by Rodri. More promising from the visitors. 

The move starts with Riyad Mahrez on the right hand side, who plays an outside the foot through ball to Kevin De Bruyne, who plays the ball across the box to Bernardo Silva for an easy tap-in. So simple. 2-0 City. 

Outstanding passing move from City!

Manchester City as expected are retaining plenty of possession in the final third, and Birmingham are happy to sit back and let the hosts dictate the game. Prieto could face plenty more shots on target to keep City at bay. 

The ball falls to Bernardo Silva inside the box, and Silva steps up and volleys into the top corner past an outstretched Prieto. Great goal from the winger to open the scoring on what could be a long afternoon for Birmingham. 

Great strike from Bernardo Silva!

Manchester City and Birmingham City kick-off their FA Cup campaign at the Etihad Stadium. 

Birmingham boss Aitor Karanka has made multiple changes from the side that lost against Blackburn Rovers 2-0 last Saturday, and reads as follows:
 

XI:  Prieto, Colin, Clarke-Salter, San Jose, Friend, (C), Sunjic, Kieftenbeld, Sanchez, Toral, Leko, Hogan

 

SUBS: Etheridge, Pedersen, Dean, Dacres-Cogley, Roberts, Clayton, McGree, Bela, Jutkiewicz

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has opted for a strong lineup this afternoon which reads as follows:

 

XI:  Steffen, Cancelo, Dias, Walker, Mendy, Rodrigo, Mahrez, De Bruyne (C), Foden, Bernardo, Jesus

SUBS: Ederson, Stones, Gundogan, Fernandinho, Zinchenko, Delap, Harwood-Bellis, Nmecha, Mbete 

Welcome to VAVEL UK's LIVE coverage of Manchester City vs Birmingham City in the 3rd round of the FA Cup.

My name is Sam Sheppey and I'll be your host for this game. We'll provide you with pre-game analysis, team updates, and news as it happens live here on VAVEL.com