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FA Cup: De Bruyne Returns in a Big Win for Man City

Football - FA Cup - Third Round - Manchester City v Huddersfield Town - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - January 7, 2024 Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne applauds fans after the match. (Reuters)
Football - FA Cup - Third Round - Manchester City v Huddersfield Town - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - January 7, 2024 Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne applauds fans after the match. (Reuters)
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FA Cup: De Bruyne Returns in a Big Win for Man City

Football - FA Cup - Third Round - Manchester City v Huddersfield Town - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - January 7, 2024 Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne applauds fans after the match. (Reuters)
Football - FA Cup - Third Round - Manchester City v Huddersfield Town - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - January 7, 2024 Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne applauds fans after the match. (Reuters)

Kevin De Bruyne set up a goal on his return from injury after nearly five months out as Manchester City opened its FA Cup title defense with a 5-0 win over second-tier Huddersfield on Sunday.

There was also a victory in the third round for Wrexham, the fourth-tier club owned by Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds and with a strong tradition in the famous cup competition, while Premier League teams West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Luton were all held to draws at home by lower-division opponents.

De Bruyne hasn’t played since sustaining a hamstring injury at Burnley on the opening day of the Premier League season on Aug. 11. The Belgium playmaker came on as a 57th-minute substitute — when City was 2-0 ahead — and provided the cross that fellow replacement Jeremy Doku converted for the final goal in a one-sided match at Etihad Stadium.

Phil Foden scored twice, Julian Alvarez added another and there was an own-goal for City, which saw defender Manuel Akanji go off injured in the first half.

Erling Haaland was still deemed not fit enough to feature for City, but should be back soon to complement the returning De Bruyne and Doku as Pep Guardiola's team go for an unlikely repeat of its treble of major trophies won last season.

Wrexham won 1-0 at Shrewsbury, a local rival from a division higher in English soccer's pyramid, thanks to Tom O'Connor's second-half goal.

The buzz around Wrexham and its celebrity owners — Reynolds and fellow Hollywood actor Rob McElhenney — reached new levels during a cup run around this time last year when the team beat one second-tier Championship team in Coventry and then took another, Premier League-bound Sheffield United, to a replay. But promotion is the big goal this season for Wrexham, which is in third place in League Two.

In more surprising results, West Ham failed to hold onto a lead and drew 1-1 with second-tier Bristol City, Forest had to come from 2-0 down to draw with third-tier Blackpool 2-2 and another third-tier team, Bolton, held Luton 0-0.

Arsenal hosts Liverpool in the standout third-round match later Sunday.

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Slot Downplays Man United's Low Placing, Saying He Will Not Sit Out Players for Clash

Soccer Football - Premier League - West Ham United v Liverpool - London Stadium, London, Britain - December 29, 2024 Liverpool manager Arne Slot Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
Soccer Football - Premier League - West Ham United v Liverpool - London Stadium, London, Britain - December 29, 2024 Liverpool manager Arne Slot Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
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Slot Downplays Man United's Low Placing, Saying He Will Not Sit Out Players for Clash

Soccer Football - Premier League - West Ham United v Liverpool - London Stadium, London, Britain - December 29, 2024 Liverpool manager Arne Slot Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
Soccer Football - Premier League - West Ham United v Liverpool - London Stadium, London, Britain - December 29, 2024 Liverpool manager Arne Slot Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra/File Photo

Liverpool boss Arne Slot believes struggling Manchester United are better than their place in the Premier League standings suggest, and said he does not plan to rest any players when the two teams clash on Sunday at Anfield.

Liverpool top the table with 45 points and with a game in hand over the other title contenders. They are six points ahead of second-placed Arsenal, while United, with five losses in their last six league games, are languishing 14th with 22 points.

While United are no longer the force they were during the Alex Ferguson era, Slot was taken aback when asked if he plans to rest any of his key players on Sunday, Reuters reported.

"No. Of course not," Slot said. "For me, they have much better players than maybe the league table shows at the moment. It might take a while for (manager) Ruben Amorim to bring this out of the players but they are much better than the league table shows."

Although Slot is not expecting defender Joe Gomez back any time soon after he suffered an injury in their 5-0 thrashing of West Ham on Sunday, there was some good news in the return to training of Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate.

"Joe is not in a good place when it comes to his injury, he's out for a few weeks," Slot said. "Conor and Ibou will train with us today for the first time. They worked hard to come back for the team. The next step is how they'll handle team sessions."

Slot deftly sidestepped questions about Trent Alexander-Arnold amid speculation about a move to Real Madrid.

"I can tell you he's playing on Sunday and hopefully brings the same performance he's been bringing in the last half a year," he said. "He played an incredible game against West Ham. I see him training hard every day."

Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah leads the league with 17 goals and combined with his 13 assists, his goal contributions add up to one every 53 minutes.

Asked if Salah is currently the best in the world, Slot said it is difficult to compare players.

"If I only look at my own team, Virgil (van Dijk) also has an outstanding season but he doesn't have the numbers because he is a defender," the manager said. "The numbers Mo has speaks for themselves. If you simply look at the numbers and the way he's playing, he's definitely a great, great player."

Slot's men, who have lost only one game this season, beat Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford in September and United have just one victory over their rivals in their last 13 league meetings.

Slot had kind words for Amorim, who admitted after their 2-0 loss to Newcastle United on Monday that his team could be facing potential relegation.

"Every manager sympathises with every other manager," he said. "We all know how much pressure this job brings. It is something we like. He's done so well at Sporting and I think he has a good squad of players so he will eventually bring the best out of them."