West Bromwich Albion vs Manchester City. Carabao Cup Round 3.
The HawthornsAttendance14,953.
Wednesday 20 September 2017 22:57, UK
Two goals from Leroy Sane secured Manchester City their place in the Carabao Cup fourth round with a narrow victory over West Brom.
Sane's ruthless finishes (3 and 77) either side of Claudio Yacob's close-range strike (72) were enough to send the visitors through despite a valiant display from West Brom.
Victory for Guardiola's men was slightly marred by yet another injury to Ilkay Gundogan, who was forced to limp off after as he crumbled to the ground following a heavy challenge from Yacob in the 58th minute.
Hal Robson-Kanu missed a glorious chance only a few yards out seconds from time, but it was City who emerged victorious with their fifth win in a row in all competitions.
City started the game excellently. Without West Brom even touching the ball, Sane put City ahead as he responded first to Gundogan's vicious shot, which was parried by Ben Foster straight to the winger before he smashed his strike into the roof of the net.
Gundogan nearly grabbed a goal of his own in the 18th minute. Danilo picked out the Germany international unmarked in the penalty area but Gareth McAuley was able to make a crucial block before Foster then had to parry away Eliaquim Mangala's back-post header.
Foster was called into action again five minutes later as he smothered Sane's close-range strike just moments after Gabriel Jesus curled his attempt over the top from six-yards out.
Seconds before half-time, it was the turn of Raheem Sterling to test Foster from the edge of the box, but the West Brom goalkeeper did excellently to parry his curling strike over the bar.
City continued the second half in dominant fashion, but suffered a significant blow as Gundogan had to limp off after a heavy challenge from Yacob. On the hour-mark, Sterling tested Foster again from the edge of the area only to see his shot stopped by the goalkeeper's feet.
West Brom had a great chance in the 68th minute as Robson-Kanu and Phillips combined to slip through James Morrison, whose close-range effort went agonisingly wide of Claudio Bravo's left post. Albion's equaliser arrived moments later through Yacob who, unmarked, poked in Gibbs' corner from point-blank range.
Morrison then missed a great chance to take the lead as his strike forced a wonderful save out of Bravo. But on the counter-attack, City would kill off the tie through Sane.
The 21-year-old showed excellent composure to curl the ball around Foster into the bottom corner.
Robson-Kanu should have sent the game into extra-time with only a few seconds remaining, but his vicious shot clattered off the framework.
Sane was a real threat to West Brom's five-man defence all evening while also adhering to his defensive duties.
His first goal was an instinctive finish while his second came at a pivotal moment just after Morrison's near miss.
Manchester City face Roy Hodgson's Crystal Palace on Saturday night. Meanwhile, West Brom are in Monday Night Football action against Arsenal.
