Carabao Cup: Man City, Chelsea, Villa through to fourth round

MANCHESTER: Matheus Nunes scored his first goal for Manchester City as Pep Guardiols's side reached the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with a 2-1 victory over Watford.

On a night when 16-year-old Kaden Braithwaite became the third-youngest player to start a game for City, and the youngest under Guardiola, it took just five minutes for Jeremy Doku to fire City into the lead with a low drive before Nunes hit a second in the 38th minute.

Savinho struck the post while Jack Grealish and Phil Foden went close before Tom Ince’s late strike set up a nervy finish.

"It was a great performance from the team and I’m happy that I helped us to win. We want to be in every competition and try to win all of them and this one is no different. Some of the players that haven’t been playing much, get minutes. I'm very happy, I feel good, a bit tired but I’ll be ready for Newcastle," said Nunes.

On the other hand, Christopher Nkunku scored a hat-trick as Chelsea cruised into the Fourth round with a convincing 5-0 win over Barrow.

Nkunku opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a cool finish after a fine chipped pass from Joao Felix. The forward soon added his second with a clever flick to divert Malo Gusto's low cross into the net, before a Felix free-kick hit the post and bounced in off Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman to give the Blues a 3-0 half-time lead.

Two minutes after the restart, Pedro Neto scored his first Chelsea goal by tapping in after Mykhailo Mudryk's pass across goal. Nkunku completed his hat-trick in the 75th minute after tackling keeper Farman and passing the ball into an empty net.

Elsewhere, goals from Emi Buendía and Jhon Duran helped Aston Villa past Wycombe Wanderers to reach the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with 2-1 win.

Unai Emery's players struggled to impress before Emiliano Buendia's looping 56th-minute header set the Premier League club on their way. Duran has been in red-hot form off the bench this season, scoring four times in five substitute appearances in the Premier League.

But the 20-year-old Colombian striker fired wide when clean through in the opening minute before making it 2-0 in the 85th-minute from the penalty spot after he adjudged to have been brought down. Wycombe did manage a late consolation when substitute Richard Kone scored in stoppage time.