City cruise past Arsenal youngsters

Second-half goals from Carlos Tevez, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Vladimir Weiss steered Manchester City into their first domestic cup semi-final since 1981 as they beat Arsenal 3-0.

Against an Arsenal side trying to bounce back from Sunday's hammering by Chelsea, City got their noses in front thanks to Carlos Tevez, who picked up a winners' medal in last year's competition with Manchester United.

Wright-Phillips added a second with a fierce drive from the edge of the area 20 minutes from time and Vladimir Weiss also scored at the death to keep City on course to end a trophy drought which extends back to their win in this competition 33 years ago.

The frantic first half was full of meaty challenges and plenty of thrills, even if clear-cut chances were few and far between.

Craig Bellamy had the best one, set up by Wright-Phillips, whose pace was a constant threat.

The Welshman, preferred to record signing Robinho, could only drag his shot wide, which hinted at a night of frustration for City and Emmanuel Adebayor, picked to face the Gunners for the first-time since that stormy affair back in September.

However five minutes after the break, Tevez embarked on a crab-like run across the box before pulling the trigger on a shot that crashed in off the underside of the bar.

City's long-suffering fans were ecstatic. And they had even more to celebrate 20 minutes later when Wright-Phillips collected Kolo Toure's short pass and galloped at Mikael Silvestre, who failed to get tight enough.

It was an open invitation to shoot. And the little England winger obliged, Lukasz Fabianski again left clutching at air, with absolutely no hope of getting near the ball.

Weiss popped up to tap home a third in the final minute, but long before that a whole generation of City fans were expectantly looking ahead to that long-awaited semi-final.