MANCHESTER (AFP) - Holders Manchester City cruised into the FA Cup fifth round with a 4-0 thrashing of 10-man Fulham at the Etihad on Sunday (Jan 26).
Tim Ream's sixth-minute red card gave the Championship side a mountain to climb after he hauled down Gabriel Jesus inside the box.
Ilkay Gundogan converted the resulting penalty before Bernardo Silva's smart turn and shot quickly doubled City's advantage.
The visitors then held out for nearly an hour but two headers in three minutes from Jesus gave the scoreline a more accurate reflection of the English champions' dominance.
Pep Guardiola's men have now won 17 domestic cup ties in a row.
The Catalan is relying on more cup success for silverware this season after conceding that the Premier League title is beyond his side with Liverpool 16 points clear at the top of the table.
Guardiola made eight changes to the team that won 1-0 at Sheffield United in midweek, but still named a strong side with both David and Bernardo Silva and Gundogan among those coming into the team.
Fulham boss Scott Parker also rotated his side, with his priority securing a return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Any hope of an upset was quashed within minutes by a rash challenge from Ream.
City have had problems from the spot this season with Guardiola even claiming goalkeeper Ederson is his best taker after Jesus' latest miss at Bramall Lane on Tuesday.
However, with the Brazilian on the bench with Claudio Bravo keeping his starting spot in goal for the cups, it was Gundogan who took responsibility to dispatch the spot kick.
A moment of magic from Bernardo then gave the hosts breathing space as the Portuguese international fired into the bottom corner from outside the box.
Only a lack of killer instinct prevented City from further running up the score as Raheem Sterling came off the bench to hit the crossbar.
Jesus, though, bagged a confidence-boosting double by heading home Joao Cancelo's cross before nodding in the rebound after Marek Rodak had saved Phil Foden's initial effort.
Earlier, Guardiola conceded the English Premier League title to Liverpool and believes no team in the world would be able to stay with the European champions this season.
Liverpool are well on course for a first league title in 30 years as they lead City by 16 points with a game in hand after winning 22 and drawing one of their 23 games.
City have won back-to-back titles with a combined 198 points, denying Liverpool last season despite Jurgen Klopp's men posting 97 points - the third highest tally in top-flight English football history.
"Liverpool obviously will be champions of the Premier League, but they would be champions in Spain, champions in Italy, champions in Germany," said Guardiola. "They would be champions everywhere after 23 games, 22 victories, one draw."
City have lost five league games this season, but he defended their record by pointing out it would still be good enough to mount a title challenge in Europe's other top leagues.
"In the recent past when Chelsea won the league, the next season, they didn't qualify for the Champions League, Leicester the same and Chelsea again the same. When we won the league we repeated the league," added Guardiola.
"In Spain with the points we have we would be there, one or two points behind the leader, in Germany we would be there, one or two points behind the leader, in Italy as well.
"But Liverpool are just fantastic, phenomenal, overwhelming. So we have to accept it and learn from that."
Guardiola won three league titles in a row at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but believes the mental strength to bounce back of his current squad is just as good as any he has coached before.
And City could still end the season with three trophies as they look to retain the FA Cup and League Cup and take on Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League next month.
"Honestly, it is one of the best I have ever handled or faced in my career for how they react in the bad moments," he said. "The numbers, the results, not just in this season, I think are good. Even in the previous seasons I think it was phenomenal. That is why I am so proud."
