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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Alex Brotherton

Jack Grealish pranks Bernardo and other moments missed from Man City win vs Chelsea

Manchester City booked their place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday with a 2-0 win against Chelsea.

Two goals in quick succession early in the second half from Riyad Mahrez and Julian Alvarez put City out of Chelsea's reach, although the visitors did spurn a host of chances to get back into the game. Stefan Ortega put in a man-of-the-match performance to preserve his clean sheet on a night when City's back-line looked more porous than usual.

Pep Guardiola will not dwell on that too much though - the likes of Jack Grealish and Cole Palmer were excellent, while 17-year-old Rico Lewis again impressed at right-back.

READ MORE: Julian Alvarez is giving Man City even more attacking options after Chelsea win

Away from the obvious positives, here are a few moments you might have missed from City's win.

Haaland and De Bruyne warm-ups

As was the case before the Fulham game at the weekend, Erling Haaland did not take part in most of City's pre-match warm-up. In fact he was even less involved - on Saturday he joined in for the final 10 minutes, whereas on Wednesday he didn't get past stretching on the touchline

Interestingly he was joined in that activity by Kevin de Bruyne. With a tough Premier League match against Brentford coming up, it was no surprise that both were rested.

Grealish pranks Bernardo

Jack Grealish was superb and desperately deserved a goal, but on several occasions he was thwarted by last-ditch blocks and saves. As long as he is performing well though, neither he nor Guardiola will care too much.

Perhaps his improved performances this season are linked to how happy and settled he feels at the club. As the players emerged for the second half, Grealish snuck up behind substitute Bernardo Silva and squirted water down his back. It may seem an insignificant detail, but that kind of team spirit just shows how settled the England man is. The goals will come.

Warm welcome for Sterling

Raheem Sterling came off the bench in the second half to make his first appearance at the Etihad Stadium since he left City in the summer.

Although there were a few boos as he stripped down and got ready to come on, they were quickly drowned out by widespread applause from the City faithful. The vast majority of City fans have not forgotten the huge contribution Sterling made to an era of unparalleled success for the club.

Support for Lewis

Although he scored on his Champions League debut last week, Rico Lewis will have arguably learned more from Wednesday's game. The 17-year-old was again lively in attack and comfortable on the ball, although defensively he did look a little shaky and got caught out of position on a few occasions.

At such a young age that's to be expected, and it's clear he's highly thought of at City. In the second half a chorus of "Rico! Rico!" rang out around the Etihad, and when Lewis lost his man on a dangerous cross and took a blow for his troubles, Ruben Dias picked him up and gave him some encouragement.

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