Football- FA Cup - Aston Villa 0-4 Manchester City: Kelechi Iheanacho hits hat-trick in FA Cup romp – 5 things we learned

The youngster put Remi Garde's side to the sword with his first senior hat-trick, while Raheem Sterling also got onto the score sheet as City head through 

 

 

Kelechi Iheanacho fired Man City into the fifth round with a brilliant hat-trick to leave rock bottom Aston Villa to their grim relegation battle .

The Nigerian teenager opened the scoring in the fourth minute from close-range when Fernando had a header cleared off the line from Fabian Delph's corner.

Iheanacho then doubled the visitors' advantage with a coolly-taken penalty in the 24th minute after Leandro Bacuna brought down Rahem Sterling.

Villa threatened to pull a goal back when Carles Gil tested Willy Caballero after the break with a free-kick from just outside the box.

But City cruised to victory when Iheanacho ran on to a diabolical backpass from Idrissa Gana to slot in on 74 minutes before Sterling netted 14 minutes from time.

Here are five things we learned:

1) No need for Sergio Aguero or David Silva

City's top scorer on the bench might as well have taken the afternoon off from the fourth minute when the visitors took an early lead.

Instead 16-goal striker Aguero and key midfielder David Silva were kept fresh for Tuesday's trip to Sunderland as City strolled it.

Kelechi Iheanacho scores the first goal for Manchester City

Kelechi Iheanacho celebrates after scoring a penalty

2) Kelechi Iheanacho has huge potential

The young striker, 19, has been tipped for a big future since helping his native Nigeria win the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

He struck twice here with three clinical finishes – including one from the spot – to leave City fans singing his name.

Aston Villa fans gesture towards Fabian Delph

3) Odds falling on City doing the quadruple

Bookies will be revising City's odds downward with every game at this rate after two significant victories in a week.

After reaching the League Cup final by beating Everton, City are now also into the fifth round of the FA Cup after this clinical display.

No wonder Fabian Delph swapped Villa for City in the summer – smart move.

Leandro Bacuna grabs Raheem Sterling's neck

4) Villa need Jores Okore in defence

The stopper, 23, had only featured once previously on the losing side for the Premier League bottom club this season in eight appearances.

But he was left on the bench and Villa missed him as Iheanacho ran amok in the first half prompting boss

Remi Garde to send on the Dane at the interval and move Micah Richards to right-back.

Pen: Sterling was brought down by Richards to give City a second

5) Agbonlahor back but Villa's unbeaten run left in tatters

Garde talked up his side going into this game by praising a five-match unbeaten run, including beating League Two Wycombe in a replay.

But Villa's respite from suffering was swiftly ended here as City clinically put them to the sword.

They did at least bring on as sub fit-again striker Gabby Agbonlahor who had previously played just a minute under Garde.

Player ratings - by James Nursey:

Aston Villa

• Guzan 5 - Recalled by last season's FA Cup runners up but left exposed
• Bacuna 5 - Booked Gave away a soft first half penalty
• Richards 5 - Moved from centre-back to right-back after torrid first half
• Clark 5 - No-one in Villa's defence had a good afternoon
• Cissokho 6 - Still looks rusty after his recall from a loan spell
• Westwood 6 - Booked Subbed at half-time as Villa tried in vain to frustrate the visitors
• Gana 4 - Appalling backpass to gift a chance to Iheanacho for his treble
• Veretout 6 - Still to get to get to grips with pace of English football
• Gil 6 - Subbed as usual by the hosts as they chased game
• Sinclair 6 - Ineffective against his old club and subbed
• Ayew 6 - Villa's dangerman saw precious little of the side

Subs

• Okore (Westwood 45) 6
• Agbonlahor (Sinclair 65) 6
• Grealish (Gil 80) 6

Man City

• Caballero 7 - Made a decent save from Gana in the first half
• Zabaleta 7 - Booked. Quiet afternoon at right-back for the defender
• Sagna 7 - Put in a good shift at centre-back
• Otamendi 7 - Will have much harder afternoons in defence
• Clichy 7 - Got forward well down the flank
• Fernandinho 7 - Easy afternoon with visitors in full control
• Fernando 7 - Had a role in opener as his header wasn't cleared
• Delph 7 - Must have no regrets about swapping Villa for City
• Navas 7 - The flyer was a ready outlet for the visitors
• Iheanacho 9 - MOTM The promising talent took his goals clinically
• Sterling 8 - Booked. A threat throughout and got on scoresheet

Subs

• Celina (Fernandinho 78) 6
• Tasende (Clichy 81) 6
• Humphreys-Grant (Fernando 88) 6