LONDON • Manchester City broke the English football record for consecutive wins by a top-flight club after beating second-tier Swansea 3-1 on Wednesday to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Kyle Walker, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus were on target for the visitors, who extended their winning run in all competitions to 15 games. The previous record of 14 successive wins was held by Preston (1892) and Arsenal (1987).
Victory was also Pep Guardiola's 200th in 268 games as City boss, with the Premier League leaders still on course for a historic quadruple of trophies.
His men hold a five-point lead with a game in hand at the top of the Premier League, face Tottenham in the League Cup final in April and resume their challenge to win their first Champions League trophy when they face Borussia Monchengladbach in the last 16 later this month.
"It is amazing for ourselves. We cannot deny how pleased and proud we are to break this record," said Guardiola.
"Records are there to be broken, but they have to do well (to beat it).
"It is not easy in the modern era to make 15 wins in a row."
Despite their congested schedule, he named a strong side for the trip to south Wales with Sterling, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan retaining their places from Sunday's 4-1 win at Liverpool.
Walker has lost his place as first-choice right-back due to Joao Cancelo's excellent form.
But the England defender took his chance to impress with a rare goal to open the scoring even though there was a massive slice of luck as his cross evaded everyone in the middle before nestling in the bottom corner of the net.
A two-goal salvo thanks to Sterling's 11th goal of the season and Jesus ensured the contest was over in the 50th minute, allowing Guardiola to replace Sterling, Silva and Gundogan early with an eye on Spurs' league visit tomorrow.
Morgan Whittaker pulled a goal back for the Swans 13 minutes from time, but Steve Cooper's men can now focus fully on their quest to gain promotion to the Premier League for the rest of the season.
Elsewhere, Leicester were made to wait until four minutes into added time to book their place in the last eight with a 1-0 win over Brighton, with Kelechi Iheanacho heading home after coming off the bench.
Joining the Foxes in the quarter-finals will be Sheffield United, who saw off Championship outfit Bristol City 1-0 thanks to Billy Sharp's penalty after Alfie Mawson was sent off for handling David McGoldrick's goal-bound shot.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
