Just two days after a heated Premier League match against Arsenal, Manchester City fielded a mostly changed team and still had too much for second-tier Watford in the English League Cup.
City won 2-1 with first-half goals from Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes at Etihad Stadium as the third round continued on Tuesday. Other top-flight teams like Chelsea, Aston Villa, and Leicester also moved forward in the tournament.
Chelsea dominated fourth-division Barrow, winning 5-0, with Christopher Nkunku scoring a hat trick and celebrating by inflating a blue balloon and holding it in his mouth.
Villa won 2-1 at third-tier Wycombe, and Leicester advanced by winning 3-0 in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw at fourth-tier Walsall.
The competition’s last 32 matches are being held over two midweeks to fit in with the expanded Champions League and Europa League. Manchester United and Tottenham moved forward last week, while Liverpool and Arsenal will play their matches on Wednesday.
City manager Pep Guardiola, who won the League Cup four years in a row with City starting in 2018, mentioned he won’t take it too seriously this season and will use the matches to give playing time to some less regular players.
“We are not going to waste energy on this competition, for sure,” he said.
Doku was one of only two Man City players—along with Kyle Walker—to start both the dramatic 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sunday and the match against Watford.
The Belgium winger scored to put his team ahead in the fifth minute by shooting from just inside the area after City took advantage of a bad back-pass.
Nunes scored the second goal in the 38th minute with a low, left-footed shot, marking the Portugal midfielder’s first goal since joining from Wolverhampton in the offseason of 2023.
Tom Ince, the son of former England midfielder Paul Ince, scored for Watford in the 86th minute.
Chelsea also changed its lineup significantly, making 11 changes from the team that started the 3-0 victory against West Ham on Saturday.
Nkunku netted the first two goals by the 15th minute and completed the scoring in the 75th minute. In between, there was an own goal and a tap-in by Pedro Neto for his first goal with Chelsea.
Colombian forward Jhon Durán continued his strong start to the season for Villa by scoring the team’s second goal from the penalty spot in the 85th minute, adding to Emi Buendia’s opener in the 55th minute.
The 20-year-old Durán has scored four times in five league matches so far this season, all while coming off the bench. Wycombe managed to score a consolation goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Walsall could not pull off an upset against Leicester, taking the Premier League team to a penalty shootout at home.
Leicester successfully converted all three of its penalties, while Walsall missed its first three attempts, ending the shootout quickly.
