Manchester City safely booked their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup this afternoon courtesy of a comfortable 2-0 win over Cardiff City in South Wales.
The visitors made a perfect start to the match when Kevin De Bruyne's inventive free kick gave them the lead after only eight minutes, and Raheem Sterling doubled that advantage before half time.
Cardiff never really looked like hauling themselves back into the game in the second half, and the hosts were reduced to 10 men in stoppage time when Joe Bennett was shown an overdue red card for a challenge on Brahim Diaz.
Find out how all of the action unfolded courtesy of Sports Mole's minute-by-minute updates below.
Yesterday saw plenty of upsets in this competition, with Liverpool and West Ham United both crashing out while a handful of other Premier League teams - including Tottenham - were held to draws by lower-league opposition. Manchester City will be looking to avoid a similar fate here as Cardiff bid to halt their quadruple dreams, and the Championship promotion hopefuls will be relishing the chance to knock the Premier League leaders off this afternoon.
We will take a closer look at both sides a little later, but first let's check out the team news...
Well, the headline news predictably comes from the away camp as Sergio Aguero is dropped to the bench, and it is no surprise to see the Argentine rested considering he is the club's only senior striker available at the moment due to the continued absence of Gabriel Jesus through injury.
Opportunities for Aguero to be rested are few and far between, but he is on the bench today just in case he is needed - as he was the last time he was left out of the starting XI when he came on to score a late winner against Bristol City in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final.
His pace is sure to cause problems for the Cardiff defence, particularly when combined with the speed and trickery of Bernardo Silva and Leroy Sane either side of him. Sane in particular has been sensational in recent weeks, scoring three goals and registering four assists in his six appearances so far in 2018.
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De Bruyne missed the victory over Burnley in the previous round, but his starts this afternoon alongside Fernandinho and Gundogan in the midfield three.
Kyle Walker starts once again despite having seemingly been struggling with a head injury towards the end of the EFL Cup win over Bristol City on Tuesday night, and Guardiola has made only four changes from that side, with Danilo, Gundogan, Kompany and Sterling all coming back into the lineup.
Ecuele Manga and Morrison are both able to start at the heart of the defence again, though, and it looks as though Cardiff will revert to four at the back, having played a three-man defence against Sheffield Wednesday last weekend.
One loanee who does miss out this afternoon is Yanic Wildschut, though, as he is cup-tied having already featured in this competition earlier this season.
There are also two changes from Cardiff's last FA Cup contest, with Damour and Pilkington being replaced by Grujic and Mendez-Laing.
Harris finally made his first appearance of the season during the match with Sheffield Wednesday last time out, but this match comes too soon for him to be involved.
It is hard to argue against the fact that Warnock's methods work too, with the veteran boss seemingly on course for another promotion push this season and it may not be long before we see him back in the Premier League again.
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Despite their lofty league position, Cardiff have incredibly made fewer passes than any other team in the Championship this season, while their passing accuracy is also the lowest in the league at a measly 61.4%. It is perhaps no surprise that they average just 43% possession in Championship games this season too, which is the polar opposite of how Man City look to play.
Cardiff currently sit third in the Championship table, but they are only two points off the automatic promotion places so, while leaders Wolves look to be out of sight, that second place is still very much up for grabs with third to fifth separated by only one point.
The Bluebirds have won just one of their last six Championship outings, picking up only four points from the 18 on offer during that spell, which included a run of four consecutive defeats. They have since ended that run, but it proved damaging enough for them to drop out of the top two.
Mansfield held Cardiff to a goalless draw here in the initial tie before Warnock's side ran out 4-1 winners at the One Call Stadium to pick up their first win in their last five FA Cup outings. Cardiff had been knocked out in the third round in both of the last two seasons prior to this one, so even an exit this afternoon would represent an improvement.
However, two of those three defeats have come in their last four such games since Christmas, while they are winless in their last four FA Cup home games and have won just one of their last eight stretching back a decade.
The Bluebirds also reached the final of the League Cup in 2012 before losing to Liverpool so, while they have been unable to break their long trophy drought, their record in cup competitions over the past 10 years or so has not been too bad for a club of their calibre.
That 2011 triumph is also their only success in the FA Cup since 1968-69, although they did reach the final in 2013 only to fall to a shock defeat at the hands of Wigan Athletic - now a League One side.
The Premier League already looks to be wrapped up courtesy of their 12-point lead at the top of the table, while Tuesday's dramatic win over Bristol City saw them book their place in the EFL Cup final against Arsenal. The biggest question mark hangs in the Champions League, although City will be expected to at least reach the quarter-finals of that competition having been drawn against Basel in the last 16.
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Even with the defeat, Man City's record is remarkable; Guardiola's side have won 11 of their last 13 games across all competitions and 36 of their last 40 stretching back to last season, drawing twice and losing just twice in that time.
Away from home there are also one or two signs of a slight slump in form, with City's last five away outings seeing them need penalties to beat Leicester, scrape past Newcastle, narrowly avoid defeat in a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace, lose to Liverpool and then need a 96th-minute winner to beat Championship side Bristol City.
Indeed, they boast comfortably the best away record in the Premier League and have won 15 of their 18 away games across all competitions, so it is far from panic time for Guardiola's side despite that dip in form.
That solitary defeat was a heavy one at the hands of Chelsea in the 2015-16 fifth round, but since that 5-1 reverse Man City have kept four consecutive away clean sheets in this competition.
Man City faced Premier League opposition in the shape of Burnley in the third round this season and trailed at half time following an under-par display, only to take things up a gear in the second half and eventually run out 4-1 winners.
Cardiff will look to unsettle Man City today with plenty of high balls and aerial battles, but the stats suggest that they may not see much of the ball and if it just keeps coming back at them then Man City will surely break them down sooner or later. I expect the hosts to make it as difficult as they can for their glamorous visitors, but I am still backing an away win.
SPORTS MOLE SAYS: Cardiff 0-2 Man City
The most recent clash came in the Premier League four years ago, when Dzeko, Navas, Toure and Aguero were all on the scoresheet for City as they ran out 4-2 winners at the Etihad Stadium, with Craig Noone and Fraizer Campbell responding for the Bluebirds.
Campbell was again on the scoresheet on that occasion, helping himself to a brace after Aron Gunnarsson has also scored, with Cardiff finding the back of the net three times in the final half an hour. Dzeko and Negredo also scored for Man City, but it was not enough to prevent Cardiff from registering a famous 3-2 win.
This will be the 10th FA Cup meeting between the two sides, with Cardiff winning just one of the previous nine whereas Man city have won four, with four draws too. Cardiff's solitary win did come in the most recent FA Cup edition of this fixture, though, with the third-tier Bluebirds knocking out top-flight Man city with a 1-0 win at this stage in January 1994.
CARDIFF STARTING XI: Etheridge; Richards, Morrison, Ecuele Manga, Bennett; Paterson, Ralls, Grujic, Hoilett; Mendez-Laing; Zohore
MAN CITY STARTING XI: Bravo; Walker, Kompany, Otamendi, Danilo; Fernandinho, Gündogan, De Bruyne; Bernardo, Sterling, Sane
5 - Man City now have five players to have scored at least 10 goals in all competitions this season, more than any other English league side (Aguero, Sterling, Sané, Jesus and De Bruyne). Mix. #CARMCI
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 28, 2018
It looks like a perfectly good goal, but the linesman has his flag up. Lee Mason goes over to his linesman to discuss the issue and then seemingly gives the goal, causing the Man City players to celebrate for a second time. The replay appears to show nothing wrong with it, but then play restarts with a free kick so it isn't given after all! The only thing it could have possibly been is an offside against Sane, but he was not exactly interfering in play and he didn't even appear to be offside! It is a shocker from the officials!
Danilo slides a pass down the left touchline for Bernardo Silva, who takes one look up before whipping his cross into the middle. Sterling has peeled off Manga in the middle and is completely unmarked as he rises in the area and plants a downward header into the bottom corner.
The visitors have been by far the better team and have a two-goal lead at the interval which should be even more, but for a terrible decision from the officials. It looks like being a long afternoon for the hosts, who haven't shown many signs of getting back into the game.
Gundogan was brought down right on the edge of the box and, recognising that he may not have enough space to get it over the wall and back down again, De Bruyne instead rolled it under the jumping wall and into the bottom corner, with the keeper left helpless.
After a moment of confusion the goal was eventually disallowed, although it was a poor decision from the officials, who deemed Sane to have interfered with play by running across the path of the shot. It was debatable whether Sane was even interfering in play, but the replays also showed that Sane was not even offside.
Danilo's pass released the winger down the left flank and he whipped an early cross into the box for an unmarked Sterling. Sterling rose to plant a header into the bottom corner - his first headed goal for two years and only the second of his entire career.
Raheem Sterling went on to add a second in the first half as Man City comfortably saw out the victory over their Championship hosts, who ended the game with 10 men courtesy of a late Bennett red card.
Thank you very much for joining Sports Mole for this afternoon's FA Cup fourth round clash as Man City outclass Cardiff to coast into the next stage courtesy of goals from De Bruyne and Sterling. I will leave you with our match report, and be sure to stick around for reaction too.
From me, though, it is goodbye for now.