Man City, Liverpool reach League Cup fourth round

Holders Manchester City needed a Phil Foden goal 15 minutes from time to see off Bournemouth 2-1.

LONDON (AFP) - Holders Manchester City needed a Phil Foden goal 15 minutes from time to see off Bournemouth 2-1 and reach the fourth round of the League Cup, while Liverpool ran riot in a 7-2 win at Lincoln on Thursday.

City have won the competition for the past three years, but Pep Guardiola admitted he had been forced to name a youthful side to prioritise their Premier League campaign due to a shortened pre-season and a series of positive coronavirus tests.

Liam Delap, son of former Stoke midfielder Rory Delap, took just 18 minutes to score on his City debut with a fine finish into the top corner from Foden s pass.

"He s a different striker to what we have in terms of physicality. We see in training how good a finisher he is," said Guardiola of the 17-year-old.

However, the lead lasted just four minutes as Bournemouth s Sam Sturridge spun inside the City box before firing into the far corner.

Guardiola introduced the artillery he had on the bench after half-time in Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling, but it was another first-team regular in Foden who made the breakthrough after Riyad Mahrez s shot came back off the post.

City will travel to Burnley in the last 16.

Liverpool will face Arsenal twice at Anfield in three days next week after Jurgen Klopp s much-changed side hit Lincoln for seven with Takumi Minamino and Curtis Jones both scoring twice.

"Everybody used the opportunity tonight to show up, that s very important," said Klopp.

"Who shows the desire we saw tonight, who shows the attitude we saw tonight, who shows so many things that I like and we want to see when a Liverpool team shows up, then there s a big chance you ll get a lot of games during the season."

Xherdan Shaqiri opened the floodgates with a brilliant free-kick that clipped the underside of the bar.

Minamino curled home to double the Premier League champions  lead before Curtis Jones struck twice in four minutes to make it 4-0 before half-time.

A minute into the second-half, Minamino had his second, but League One Lincoln responded to get two goals to remember the night by.

Tayo Edun finished off a great team move and Lewis Montsma headed home a corner.

But Liverpool continued to find the net at the other end as Marko Grujic briefly made it 6-1 before Divock Origi rounded off the scoring.

Bertrand Traore marked his Aston Villa debut with a stunning side-foot volley to score his side s second goal in a comfortable 3-0 win at Bristol City.

Anwar El Ghazi opened the scoring 11 minutes in before Traore showed why Villa spent 17 million pound ($21 million) to sign him from Lyon last week with a cute finish from a narrow angle.

Another Villa new boy Ollie Watkins then grabbed his first goal for the club 17 minutes from time as Dean Smith s men set up a last 16 clash with Stoke.