LONDON — Marcus Rashford fired Manchester United into the League Cup fourth round as the holder crushed Burton 4-1, while Manchester City eased through with a 2-1 win at West Bromwich Albion Wednesday.
City and United, currently first and second in the Premier League, took contrasting routes to the last 16, where they were joined by Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton as the big guns advanced despite fielding weakened teams.
United manager Jose Mourinho made nine changes from the side that thrashed Everton Sunday, with Rashford and Juan Mata the only survivors.
Rashford took just five minutes to open the scoring with a deft finish and the England forward struck again in the 17th minute with a powerful effort.
Burton, 19th in the Championship, was killed off in the 36th minute when Jesse Lingard’s shot deflected in off Ben Turner.
Injury-ravaged United left-back Luke Shaw came on for his first appearance since April before Anthony Martial scored the fourth from Rashford’s pass on the hour.
Lloyd Dyer got one back for Burton in stoppage-time.
At the Hawthorns, City boss Pep Guardiola made eight changes from the 6-0 demolition of Watford, giving Yaya Toure his first start of the season, while Ilkay Gundogan, back from a serious knee injury, started for the first time since December.
It was from Gundogan’s saved shot that Leroy Sane slotted in City’s third minute opener.
Claudio Yacob equalised for Albion with a close-range finish in the 72nd minute, only for Germany winger Sane to produce a superb curling winner five minutes later.
Michy Batshuayi’s hat trick helped Chelsea crush second tier Nottingham Forest 5-1 at Stamford Bridge.
Antonio Conte made nine changes from Sunday’s 0-0 draw against Arsenal, with Eden Hazard given his first start of the season after recovering from ankle surgery.
Kenedy was starting for the first time since being sent home from Chelsea’s pre-season tour of Asia in July following his offensive social media comments about China.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger changed his entire line-up from the Chelsea draw, with Per Mertesacker, Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud among the starters.
Sanchez set up the 25th minute opener, clipping a fine pass to Walcott, who controlled well before slotting home.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s double blasted Everton to a 3-0 victory over second tier Sunderland at Goodison Park.
United faces Swansea
Manchester United’s bid to retain the League Cup will head to south Wales after the holder was drawn against Swansea in the fourth round.
The draw: Tottenham vs. West Ham; Bristol City vs. Crystal Palace; Swansea vs. Manchester United; Arsenal vs. Norwich;
Chelsea vs. Everton; Manchester City vs. Wolves; Leicester vs. Leeds; Bournemouth vs. Middlesbrough.
Ties to be played week commencing Oct. 23
Dortmund crushes Hamburg
Borussia Dortmund steamrollered Hamburg SV 3-0 Wednesday to remain top of the Bundesliga with its 750th league win, setting a club record having not conceded this season.
Goals from Shinji Kagawa, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Christian Pulisic helped lift them onto 13 points and set a club record of keeping five consecutive clean sheets at the start of the season.
Dortmund is a point ahead of Bayern Munich after the champions’ 3-0 win at Schalke 04 Tuesday.
Hoffenheim climbed to third, on 11, after recovering from a two-goal deficit to snatch a 3-2 stoppage-time win at Mainz 05 thanks to Mark Uth’s late winner.
Hanover 96 drew 1-1 with Freiburg, while Cologne made it five losses in a row after its 1-0 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt. — Agencies
