RIYAD BAGS POTT SHOT
Mahrez adds to Blues woe
RIYAD MAHREZ piled on the pain for Graham Potter with a stunning second-half strike.
Mahrez broke the deadlock with an impressive free-kick before Julian Alvarez added a second to book Manchester City’s place in the fourth round and increase the misery for Blues boss Potter.
Chelsea reached the final last season but find themselves dumped out at the first time of asking this time round.
The blow will increase the pressure on Potter, whose side have now won just two of their last seven games.
City, meanwhile, continue to breeze along at a canter on their quest to reclaim a trophy boss Pep Guardiola won four times on the spin before Liverpool took it off them last season.
Both managers rang the changes with Guardiola resting Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne.
The Spaniard handed another start to rising teenage star Rico Lewis while Cole Palmer was also given a chance to impress.
Kalvin Phillips was named among the substitutes for the first time since September and made a welcome return in the second half at the Etihad to hand England boss Gareth Southgate a huge boost ahead of the World Cup.
Potter gave only a second-ever start to academy midfielder Lewis Hall while Denis Zakaria and Armando Broja were also included.
The visitors were on the back foot from the start when Sergio Gomez flashed a ball across the face of goal but no one in a light blue shirt was on hand to finish it off.
Moments later a burst from Jack Grealish set up a chance for Alvarez but Kalidou Koulibaly snuffed out the danger before Grealish shot just wide.
But Chelsea should have gone ahead when Hakim Ziyech teed up Christian Pulisic, who fluffed his lines close to goal when it looked easier to score.
Ilkay Gundogan sent a free-kick just over and Pulisic produced a better effort to demand a smart save from Stefan Ortega as chances continued to flow at both ends.
Alvarez was wasteful again when missing the target following a clever pass from Gundogan and Edouard Mendy kept out a curling effort from the dangerous Grealish.
Hall then cut inside Lewis but failed to beat Ortega to blow his big chance of glory on the stroke of half-time.
Mendy denied Grealish twice in quick succession but then came the moment of magic from Mahrez, who beat Mendy from the edge of the box in the 53rd minute, before Alvarez tapped in from close range five minutes later.
MAN CITY (4-3-3): Ortega 7; Lewis 7, Dias 7, Laporte 7 (Ake 80), Gomez 8; Rodri 7 (Phillips 50, 6), Gundogan 8 (Bernardo 50, 6), Palmer 8; Mahrez 8, Alvarez 6, GREALISH 9.
CHELSEA (3-4-3): Mendy 7; Chalobah 7 (Azpilicueta 68, 6), Koulibaly 7, Cucurella 6; Loftus-Cheek 6, Zakaria 5 (Gallagher 68, 6), Kovacic 7, Hall 7 (Havertz 76); Ziyech 8 7 (Sterling 68, 6), Pulisic 7, Broja 7 (Mount 68, 7). REFEREE: Simon Hooper 6.