Man City sweeps past 10-man Fulham 4-0 in FA Cup 4th round

Manchester City capitalized on the sixth-minute sending-off of Fulham’s U.S. defender, Tim Ream, to sweep to a 4-0 win over the second-tier team and reach the last 16 of the FA Cup on Sunday.

Ream brought down Gabriel Jesus in the penalty area and was shown a straight red card, with City scoring from the resulting spot kick through Ilkay Gundogan and going on to dominate the game at Etihad Stadium.

However, despite monopolizing possession and creating chance after chance, the defending champions only added one goal - in the 19th minute through Bernardo Silva - before a late double from Jesus.

Manchester City's Bernardo Silva, center, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during an English FA Cup fourth round soccer match between Manchester City and Fulham at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020. (AP PhotoJon Super)

Silva’s strike from outside the area took City to 100 goals in all competitions this season - the first team in Europe’s top five leagues to get to that milestone.

Later Sunday, Manchester United and Liverpool face potentially testing away games against lower-league opposition in the fourth round.

United takes on third-tier Tranmere on the host’s heavily sanded field, before a likely second-string Liverpool lineup plays Shrewsbury, also of League One.

Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan scores the opening goal from the penalty spot past Fulham goalkeeper Marek Rodak during an English FA Cup fourth round soccer match between Manchester City and Fulham at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020. (AP PhotoJon Super)

Jesus, playing ahead of Sergio Aguero in a team missing many of City’s first-choice players, took his tally to 16 goals for the season on an afternoon when he could easily have scored a hat trick.

The Brazil striker headed in Joao Cancelo’s right-wing cross in the 72nd minute, before nodding in from close range after Phil Foden’s shot was saved by busy Fulham goalkeeper Marek Rodak.

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Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus celebrates after scoring his side's fourth goal during an English FA Cup fourth round soccer match between Manchester City and Fulham at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020. (AP PhotoJon Super)

Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus, right, celebrates with Phil Foden after scoring his side's third goal during an English FA Cup fourth round soccer match between Manchester City and Fulham at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020. (AP PhotoJon Super)

Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus scored more goals in 53 minutes on Saturday than he had in the previous eight months in the English Premier League.

Becoming the first player in the league to score four goals in one game this season, Jesus led City to a 5-1 thrashing of Watford to open a four-point lead over second-placed Liverpool in the title race.

Liverpool can trim that back to one point with five matches left by beating Everton in the Merseyside derby on Sunday.

Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus celebrates after scoring his fourth goal, his side's fifth, during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Watford at Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, April 23, 2022. (AP PhotoJon Super)

Jesus scored three goals in the league before the arrival of next-to-last Watford for a match that ended up resembling a training exercise.

The Brazil international netted twice in the first half and twice more in the opening eight minutes of the second half — one of which was a penalty to complete his hat trick.

Rodri scored the other goal for City, which used the match to give key players a rest ahead of Real Madrid's visit in the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday.

Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes reacts after failing to score from a penalty kick during an English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates stadium in London, Saturday April 23, 2022. (AP PhotoAlastair J. Grant)

While City stayed on course for the title, fierce rival Manchester United likely dropped out of the race for Champions League qualification.

By losing at Arsenal 3-1, United fell six points behind its top-four rival and manager Ralf Rangnick all but called time on his team's season.

“I don’t think it’s very realistic to dream and think of the top four," Rangnick said at the end of a week when United also lost at Liverpool 4-0 and hired a new manager, Ajax's Erik ten Hag, for the start of next season.

Arsenal moved into fourth, three points above north London rival Tottenham, which visited Brentford late.

In other games, last-placed Norwich plunged closer to relegation with a 3-0 loss at home to Newcastle, while mid-table teams Leicester and Aston Villa drew 0-0.

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