Swansea 1-2 Man City: City reach EFL Cup fourth round

Pep Guardiola made it nine wins from nine games as Manchester City beat Swansea 2-1 in the third round of the EFL Cup.

After a goalless first half, City, who handed a first start of the season to Vincent Kompany before he limped off late on, took the lead in the 49th minute after Gael Clichy's shot deflected past Kristoffer Nordfeldt.

The visitors doubled their advantage in the 67th minute through Aleix Garcia, who grabbed his first senior goal for club with a first-time finish after being picked out by Jesus Navas.

Swansea grabbed a consolation goal in injury time through Gylfi Sigurdsson and in the build-up to the goal Kompany was seen clutching his hamstring after attempting to block the Iceland international's shot.

The Belgium international left the field in the aftermath of Swansea's goal and went straight down the tunnel as City held on to reach the fourth round where they will face Manchester United.

The second Manchester derby of the season will be played during the week commencing 24th October. 

Guardiola made nine changes to the side that beat Bournemouth 4-0 at the weekend, including handing a first start of the season to captain Kompany.

Willy Caballero also returned in goal and the Argentine goalkeeper put his side immediately under pressure, gifting possession back to Swansea with a poor pass, but Jack Cork could not take advantage.

City responded with Jesus Navas releasing Pablo Zabaleta down the right and the full-back picked out Angelino in the penalty area, but the youngster could not hit the target with an attempted volley.

Guardiola's need for his goalkeepers to be good with their feet was well documented in pre-season but Caballero wasn't living up to expectations, gifting possession back to Borja Baston, who was making his first start for Swansea. The Spaniard let fly from the edge of the penalty area but the Argentine goalkeeper redeemed himself by tipping the shot over the crossbar.

Every time Caballero touched the ball the ironic cheers were going up from the home fans and it seemed to spur their side on. In the 29th minute, Wayne Routledge played a clever reverse pass to release Neil Taylor but the full-back's cross was cut out by Kompany with Baston waiting to pounce.

City finally clicked into gear in the 36th minute when Leroy Sane's excellent low cross was inadvertently diverted goalwards by Mike van der Hoorn. Thankfully for Swansea, and the Dutch centre-back, Nordfeldt was alert to the danger and made a sharp save right on the goal line.

And it took the visitors just four minutes of the second half to break the deadlock when Kompany began a crisp counter-attack and Angelino's cross found Clichy, whose shot was deflected over Nordfeldt to make it 1-0.

It underlined the sweeping accuracy of City's play, and left Swansea needing a quick reply as their opponents showed ominous signs of moving up a gear.

The equaliser almost arrived after John Stones made a hash of clearing from deep, gifting possession to Swansea substitute Sigurdsson, but his shot was blocked by Caballero and City kept their lead intact.

That lead was extended in the 68th minute as Swansea were undone again, with Nordfeldt powerless to prevent Garcia's shot from flashing past him into the net to end any hopes of a fightback by the home team.

Sigurdsson did grab a late consolation when he guided the ball home from substitute Modou Barrow's cut-back but City held on, despite the loss of Kompany, for their ninth successive win of the season in all competitions.