James McAtee plundered a hat-trick as Manchester City romped to an 8-0 victory over Salford on a day when most of the Premier League sides in action safely negotiated their way through the FA Cup third round.
Jeremy Doku, Divin Mubama and Nico O’Reilly had a much-changed Man City 3-0 ahead at half-time against their League Two neighbours, but the fireworks came after the break as penalties from Jack Grealish and Doku as well as 22-year-old McAtee’s 19-minute treble put a smile on Pep Guardiola’s face.
As well as City, the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Brighton, Bournemouth and Leicester all claimed big wins on Saturday, with Brentford the only top-flight side to come unstuck.
Trent Alexander-Arnold had demonstrated his attacking qualities as Liverpool beat fourth tier Accrington Stanley 4-0.
Six days after his defending came in for fierce criticism in the 2-2 draw with Manchester United, Alexander-Arnold scored a brilliant goal at Anfield in between Diogo Jota’s opener and further efforts from substitutes Jayden Danns and Federico Chiesa.
Tosin Adarabioyo and Joao Felix both scored twice as Chelsea brushed aside League Two strugglers Morecambe 5-0 with Christopher Nkunku, who had seen his first-half penalty saved by Harry Burgoyne at 0-0, also finding the back of the net.
Dango Ouattara’s double helped ease Bournemouth to a 5-1 over West Brom with Jason Kluivert, Antoine Semenyo and substitute Daniel Jebbison also scoring after Caleb Taylor had headed the visitors in front.
However, Premier League counterparts Brentford found themselves on the wrong end of an upset when Morgan Whittaker fired Championship strugglers Plymouth to a 1-0 victory.
Whittaker’s 82nd-minute effort saw bottom-of-the-table Argyle, with new boss Miron Muslic looking on, prevail at the Gtech Community Stadium and extended their unbeaten run since Wayne Rooney’s departure to three games.
Jamie Vardy celebrated his 38th birthday with a successful penalty as top-flight Leicester routed QPR 6-2.
James Justin’s double, coupled with goals from Stephy Mavididi, Facundo Buonanotte, Vardy and Wout Faes, sent the hosts through, although Jonathan Varane and Rayan Kolli had briefly dragged it back to 3-2.
Goals from Ryan Yates and Ramon Sosa saw high-flying Nottingham Forest progress with the minimum of fuss despite making 11 changes courtesy of a 2-0 home win over Luton.
Georginio Rutter helped himself to a double before Julio Enciso and substitute Solly March wrapped up a comfortable 4-0 win for Brighton at Norwich.
Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rodrigo Gomes fired Premier League Wolves to a 2-1 win at Bristol City, for whom Scott Twine replied with a superb free-kick, while Andreas Weimann scored the only goal in Blackburn’s 1-0 win at Middlesbrough.
Ayumu Yokoyama claimed Birmingham’s fastest FA Cup goal as they beat Lincoln 2-1, Lyndon Dykes doubling their advantage before Jovon Makama converted a stoppage-time penalty.
Two goals from Demetri Mitchell and a third from Vincent Harper saw League One Exeter reach the fourth round for the first time since 1981 courtesy of a 3-1 comeback win over Championship visitors Oxford, who had gone ahead through Matt Phillips.
Zian Flemming scored twice in extra time as Championship promotion hopefuls Burnley finally got the better of League One Reading 3-1.
Lyle Taylor had put the Clarets ahead, but Lewis Wing’s equaliser left Scott Parker’s much-changed team needing Flemming’s late interventions.
Niall Ennis came off the bench to fire Stoke to a 2-1 extra-time victory over Championship rivals Sunderland, who had equalised through Milan Aleksic after Tom Cannon had opened the scoring from the penalty spot at the Stadium of Light.
Largie Ramazani’s 59th-minute header saw Championship leaders Leeds squeeze past League Two Harrogate 1-0.
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