City registered a more than convincing 6-2 victory away from home under the lights against a struggling Luton side.
As it happened...
The Citizens got off to a hot start thanks to a lovely slide rule pass from city's number 27, Matheus Nunes in between Amari'i Bell and Ogbene which opened up space for city's talisman De Bruyne to run into it. As is often the case, he finds a lovely grounded pass to his center-forward Haaland who eases the ball past Tim Krul within 3 minutes of play.
However, Luton were looking for an immediate response in front of their home fans which came through Alfie Doughty when he robbed Walker of the ball around the edge of the city box and put in a delightful cross only for it to go in vain.
This half chance seemed to have given the Luton players an extra lift as they continued to keep attacking but this was cut-short with one long ball from city's keeper, Ortega into the feet of Haaland. The Norwegian had pinned his man and just laid the ball onto the feet of De Bruyne who played a simple yet precise pass into Haaland which he took into his stride and finished off a brilliant move through the legs of Krul.
Things quickly escalated as City kept pushing for the third and eventually finding it thanks to the same duo again in similar fashion, De Bruyne playing a first time pass into the feet of Haaland who goes for the outrageous chip over the keeper marking a strong statement of intent from the holders.
Luton however had the last laugh in the first half, thanks to a thunderbolt from Jordan Clark from outside the box into the top right corner leaving Ortega with no chance.
As the second half began things were looking smooth for the citizens until Ortega gave the ball away cheaply in the 52nd minute in a position of some promise for Luton which they quickly pounced upon and punished the visitors thanks to a lovely chipped ball from Barkley into that man Jordan Clark who smashed home from close range for his second of the night and the score was 2-3 now. Luton were right back in the thick of it!
The hatters hope quickly turned into anguish however when Haaland bagged a quickfire brace thanks to a ridiculous pass from Walker into De Bruyne who put in a cross for Haaland to tap home his fourth of the night. It did not take the visitors much time to find their fifth as it was Bernardo this time who passed the ball into Haaland's feet and he scored for the fifth time as he became the first City ace to score five in an FA Cup tie for nearly 100 years!
Things went from bad to worse for the home support as a Kovacic strike in the 72nd minute capped of what was a thumping win for the Champions of Europe!
What does this mean for the Premier League and the title race?
This performance is definitely a massive confidence booster for this side given their next few fixtures in the league. City's upcoming games in the league look like this:
GW27 - against Manchester United (H)
GW28 - against Liverpool (A)
GW30 - against Arsenal (H)
GW31 - against Aston Villa (H)
Given the form of rivals Liverpool and Arsenal and the difficulty of these fixtures City will feel delighted to get a big and convincing win given their recent dip in quality by their high standards.
It is going to be interesting to see what unfolds in the upcoming few weeks in the league and also in the cup!