Diaz double sees City safely through

An injury to Kevin de Bruyne took the shine off a convincing win for Manchester City as the Carabao Cup holders eased past Fulham to advance to the quarter-finals.

Spanish teenager Brahim Diaz scored in each half to set up a last-eight meeting with Leicester or Southampton, with his first senior goals for City.

But there was concern before the end for De Bruyne, who grimaced as he limped off three minutes from time.

The 27-year-old Belgian was making only his second start of the season after suffering a ligament injury to his right knee in August.

De Bruyne had put in a typically impressive performance, but went off after going to ground clutching his left knee, and disappeared straight down the tunnel for treatment.

The Premier League leaders had made 10 changes from the team which beat Tottenham on Monday, but still outclassed a full-strength Fulham side, managing 27 shots to five from the visitors.

Diaz broke the deadlock after 18 minutes, meeting Vincent Kompany’s knock-down with a first-time shot that took a huge deflection and span past Sergio Rico.

He added his second just after the hour mark after Rico had tipped a Gabriel Jesus shot on to the post, with the 19-year-old following up to hammer home.

City will find out their quarter-final opponents on November 27, when Leicester take on Southampton. Their fourthround tie was originally meant to be played on Tuesday, but was postponed after Saturday’s helicopter crash at King Power Stadium that killed Foxes owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others.