London, Mar 3: Manchester City and Arsenal have progressed to enter the FA Cup quarter-finals. On Mar 2 City crushed Aston Villa 3-0 while Arsenal demolished Leyton Orient 5-0.
It was an inspiring game for Arsenal who suffered a shock defeat to Birmingham City in the league stages. They are now poised to pay a quarter-final visit to Manchester United. An inspired, Nicklas Bendtner, the Danish striker scored a fantastic-hatrick to seal off the 5-0 victory against Leyton Orient.
Manchester City, without a trophy for the last 35 years, have now moved another step closer to end the silverware-drought. They now face Reading in their quarter-final tie at home.
City's victory was aided by Aston Villa manager's decision to field a second-string side in the tie. Although City also followed a near-same strategy, but they still had enough firepower in the playing squad to dump Aston Villa.
Ivory Coast midfielder Toure, opened the account for Manchester City when he scored from nearly six yards in the fifth minute of the match. Italian striker, Balotelli extended City's lead to 2-0 in the 25th minute of the match. The third goal was scored by Villa in the 70th minute of the match.