Holders Manchester City cruise past Newcastle into FA Cup semis

London, June 29

Kevin de Bruyne’s first-half penalty and a superb strike by Raheem Sterling after the break earned holders Manchester City a comfortable 2-0 win away at Newcastle United in the weekend’s last FA Cup quarterfinal on Sunday.

City’s domination of the first half was absolute and the only surprise was it took a penalty for them to lead at halftime, De Bruyne slotting home in the 37th minute.

Newcastle did improve marginally after the break and substitute Dwight Gayle somehow missed a gaping goal.

One minute later Sterling curled home a delightful effort to seal City’s progress and set up a semifinal against Arsenal.

All four of this year’s Cup quarterfinals, all played behind closed doors, were won by the away team — the first time that has happened since 1987.

Manchester United will face Chelsea in the other semifinal.

“We are in the semifinals. It was not easy to attack against a team defending so deep but it was a good performance. I am happy to go back to London, to Wembley,” City manager Pep Guardiola said.

After their midweek defeat at Chelsea, a result that confirmed Liverpool as Premier League champions, Guardiola’s side were fired-up at an empty St James’ Park.

Twenty-five minutes into the tie, Newcastle had completed only 15 passes and were camped inside their own penalty area as City toyed with them.

Riyad Mahrez wasted three chances for City and Sterling was twice denied by Newcastle keeper Karl Darlow.

Having somehow survived the City onslaught, Newcastle then gifted City an opening goal when Fabian Schar needlessly shoved Gabriel Jesus and de Bruyne tucked away the penalty.

Newcastle showed more intensity after the interval with striker Andy Carroll throwing his weight around but their absent fans watching at home on TV would have been groaning when Gayle somehow fired over the crossbar from Allan Saint-Maximin’s low cross.

That glaring miss looked even more costly a minute later when Sterling, who was inspired throughout, cut in from the left and picked out the bottom corner with a clinical finish.

City may have lost their English crown, but having already bagged the League Cup and still in the Champions League they could still end the most strange of seasons with three cups.  

Lampard shows ruthless streak as Chelsea youngsters hauled off

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard showed his ruthless side as he hauled off three of his brightest young players at halftime in Sunday’s 1-0 FA Cup quarterfinal win over Leicester City.

Lampard was clearly unhappy with what he witnessed in the opening 45 minutes and admitted he could have substituted seven or eight of his players at the interval.

As it was Mason Mount, Billy Gilmour and Reece James made way for the vastly more experienced trio of Ross Barkley, Mateo Kovacic and Cesar Azpilicueta and the difference was clear.

Barkley struck the game’s only goal in the 63rd minute, ghosting on to Willian’s cross to steer a shot home.

Chelsea record scorer Lampard’s trust in youth has been an impressive part of his first season since returning as manager to Stamford Bridge, but he is not afraid to hand out some tough love when required, as it was on Sunday at the King Power Stadium.

“We haven’t played that badly since I’ve been back, we were fortunate at halftime that it was 0-0,” he said.

“The first rules of football are urgency and sprinting back and if you don’t do that you can’t compete. Our game needs to be brighter than that. In the second half there were glimpses of it, but we can’t turn up like that again. We got lucky today.”

Lampard said his young players would “take it on the chin”.

“It is a learning experience. I could have taken more off, or other players off. I am not pulling those out on their own. They will be top players for this club and have top careers,” he added.

“But if I have to do something in games I will do it. It was one of those games where I had to do something.”

Chelsea have won all three of their games since the restart of the season, twice in the Premier League to cement themselves in the top four, and can now look ahead to a Cup semifinal against Manchester United.

Ceballos stoppage-time strike sends Arsenal into semis

Substitute Daniel Ceballos fired Arsenal into the FA Cup semifinals with a stoppage-time goal that sealed a 2-1 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Sunday.

Arsenal, record 13-times winners of the trophy, went ahead after 23 minutes when Chris Basham fouled Alexandre Lacazette in the penalty area and Pepe rattled home the spot-kick.

Arsenal struggled in the second half as Sheffield United fired long balls into the penalty area aimed at the head of striker Oliver McBurnie.

United keeper Dean Henderson almost scored with a wind-assisted kick that bounced and narrowly cleared the Arsenal crossbar, to the relief of his opposite number Emiliano Martinez.

With their defence under pressure, Arsenal lost David Luiz to injury and the game looked to be heading for extra time when David McGoldrick equalised in the 87th minute, hooking home a volley after the visitors failed to clear a corner But Ceballos popped up to slot home the winner and lift Arsenal, who are ninth in the Premier League table, one place below Sheffield United.

“Today we didn’t give up, even when they got the equaliser because you have to prepare for the extra time anyway. We believed until the end and we got rewarded,” Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi told BT Sport. — Reuters