Manchester City 2 Watford 1: City player ratings from City’s win at the Etihad | OneFootball

Manchester City 2 (Jeremy Doku ‘5, Matheus Nunes 38’)

Watford 1 ( Tom Ince 86′)

Here are the City player ratings as Manchester City booked their place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Watford.

Pep Guardiola named a young starting lineup with 5 City academy graduates named in his starting lineup. The world champions started the game on the front foot and took the lead in the 5th minute through Jeremy Doku. City’s dynamic winger slotted home after James McAtee pressed the Watford defence into an error and Jack Grealish teed Doku up to open the scoring.

Manchester City would dominate possession in the first half and Matheus Nunes would double their lead with a superb striker in the 38th minute. Nunes scored his first goal for the club in a special moment for the Portuguese international.

City would dominate the half, but Watford did pose a threat on the break. Pep Guardiola’s side would go into the break with a 2-nil lead.

Savinho replaced Jeremy Doku at halftime and the champions dominated the second half. In truth, they should’ve added to their lead on several occasions. The best chance for City was when Savinho made a surging run from deep in his own half only to hit the post.

Watford, to their credit, set the game up for a grandstand finish in the 86th minute. A sublime strike from Tom Ince beat Stefan Ortega all ends up and set up a nervy finish for Manchester City.

But the champions held out in the final minutes to book their place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

Here are the City player ratings from City’s hard-fought 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium.

City player ratings

Stefan Ortega-6/10: A quiet night for Ortega who could do little to keep out a sublime strike from Tom Ince.

Kyle Walker- 6.5/10: Lined up at centre back and did his job. He is still finding his best form but was better than previous games.

John Stones- 6.5/10: Stones will be better for getting 90 minutes into his legs. Did what he had to do throughout the night.

Kaden Braithwaite 7/10- The 16-year-old didn’t look out of place in his first-team debut. Was tidy in possession and showed plenty.

Rico Lewis-8/10: Yet another superb performance from Lewis. At this point he has almost played himself into City’s best eleven.

Nico O’Reilly-7/10: A tidy display from O’Reilly. He doesn’t look out of place in City’s first team which is a massive compliment to the youngster.

Matheus Nunes-8/10: Scored his first goal for the club in a busy performance. One of his best displays in a City shirt now the challenge is there for him to earn more opportunities.

James McAtee-7/10: McAtee’s pressing set up City’s opener. He was tidy on the ball throughout the game. The only criticism of his performance is you’d like to see him get more involved in the game.

Jeremy Doku-8/10: Grabbed a goal and put in a dazzling display before being taken off at halftime.

Jack Grealish-8/10: A fantastic performance from Grealish. He picked up an assist and was a threat throughout. Definitely looks to have put a disappointing 23/24 season behind him.

Phil Foden-6/10: Like Stones, Foden needed to get through 90 minutes. He did that but couldn’t affect the game as he would’ve liked.

Substitutes

Savinho-7.5/10: Another sparkling display from the Brazilian. He was unlucky not to score but was a constant threat to Watford’s defence in the second half.

Jacob Wright–6/10: Some nice touches after coming on the second half.

Josko Gvardiol-6/10: Came on late and did what he had to do. Perhaps could’ve defended better late on in all honesty.