Manchester City cruised into the FA Cup semifinals with a 2-0 victory at Middlesbrough Saturday as Pep Guardiola showed he is taking the competition seriously. Goals from David Silva and Sergio Aguero were scant reward for City as it easily outclassed Middlesbrough, which must have feared such an outcome when it witnessed the team named by Guardiola. Ominously for Middlesbrough, currently languishing in the relegation zone after failing to win any of their last 10 Premier League games, all City's world-class players were involved, despite the fact they face Monaco in a decisive Champions League last 16 second leg Wednesday.
Everton closes in Everton closed to within five points of the Premier League top-four with a convincing defeat (3-0) of a lackluster West Bromwich Albion at Goodison Park.
Goals shortly before halftime from Kevin Mirallas and Morgan Schneiderlin — his first for the club — put Everton in control and West Brom's response was negligible.
Romelu Lukaku headed Everton's third late on to take his league tally for the season to 19, level with Harry Kane at the top of the Premier League scoring charts.
Everton, whose only defeat in 10 league games was last week's 3-2 reverse at Tottenham Hotspur, remains in seventh spot with 47 points from 28 games. Fourth-placed Liverpool has 52. Oumar Niasse proved Hull City's hero as he netted a superb double in the 2-1 victory over fellow struggler Swansea City that gave a serious shot in the arm to the Tigers in their fight against relegation.
Hull was still left in the bottom three but its victory saw it leapfrog Middlesbrough into 18th place and move to within three points of Swansea.
Joshua King scored a hat trick and missed a penalty as Bournemouth edged a five-goal thriller against West Ham United to ease six points away from relegation danger.
Bournemouth missed two penalties in the first half. King screwed wide in the ninth minute and West Ham went ahead seconds later when Michail Antonio turned smartly and shot past Bournemouth keeper Artur Boruc.
