Manchester City 2 Brentford 0: match report

Cherki scores brilliant goal from outside the box as City through to Carabao Cup semi-final with win over Brentford

Manchester City defeated Brentford 2-0 to advance to the Carabao Cup semi-finals with goals from Cherki and Savio to get the job done at the Etihad. The side saw a range of changes from the lineup that defeated Crystal Palace 3-0 at the weekend. James Trafford replaced Donnarumma in goal. Lewis, Kusanov, Ake, and O’Reilly were in defence. Gonzales, Reijnders and Cherki were in midfield with Savio, Bobb and Mukasa in attack.

Brentford started relatively well, pinning the City defence in their half and applied the pressure. In one instance, a contentious call was made when Khusanov fouled Schade on the edge of the box. Despite Brentford’s pleas that the Uzbeki defender should’ve been shown a red card for committing a last man denial of a goal scoring opportunity challenge, the referee only brought out a yellow card for the defender. A big let off early on for Khusanov and City.

A few moments later, Oscar Bobb came down with an injury and needed to be substituted. Phil Foden replaced the Norwegian

The Blues recovered from the early Brentford pressure and managed to get more control in the game. It was clear it would take something special to break Brentford’s defensive approach. In the 32nd minute, a city corner was cleared by Brentford and fell straight to Cherki. The Frenchman took a shot from outside of the box which flew into the top right corner to give the Blues the lead and break the deadlock.

City were dominant for much of the game after their goal and were relatively untroubled by Brentford despite only having a one goal lead for a chunk of the second half. Eventually after substitutions were made, the Blues would finally get their second through Savio who ran down the line past and took a shot in the box which deflected off Brentford defender Ajer and over the head of the keeper to make it 2-0 and seal the win for City.

The Blues remained comfortable following the second goal and were able to keep the clean sheet too to avoid a nervy finish, with Brentford still struggling to offer any sort of threat towards the end of the game.

City’s progression to the Carabao Cup semi-finals is now the furthest they have made it in the competition since 2021, when they last won the League Cup. They will face Chelsea, Newcastle or Arsenal/Crystal Palace in the semi-finals. Next up for the Blues will be West Ham on Saturday in the Premier League, with the opportunity to go top of the table temporarily with the game taking place before Arsenal play to continue applying the pressure at the top.