Who is Floyd Samba: 17 years old, two goals on his Manchester City debut, with his father in the stands
Manchester City beat Norwich 5-0 in the Carabao Cup and the story is a seventeen-year-old midfielder played as a striker, scoring twice on his first appearance for the first team. Who he is, what Maresca said, the other two debutants, the full third round and the fourth round draw.
Manchester City beat Norwich 5-0 in the third round of the Carabao Cup, and the story of the night is seventeen years old: Floyd Samba, on his first appearance for the first team, scored twice, on 29 and 54 minutes. His father Christopher, the former Blackburn, QPR and Aston Villa defender, was in the stands and rose to his feet for both.
Who Floyd Samba is
Born on 15 January 2009 in Macclesfield, he came through the City academy. He is not a forward: he is a central midfielder, and he played as a number nine because Haaland was rested and not even on the bench. Maresca said they had tried him there in the days before.
His brothers are in the academy too: Tyrone, the elder, already called up to the first team in the Champions League in January, and Emerson, the youngest.
Samba afterwards: “I knew there would be an opportunity to get some minutes for the first time with the first team, but to get a debut like that is mind-blowing.”
Maresca on him: “It was satisfying not just for the two goals but for the entire performance. He didn't play many games as a nine, we tried in the last few days. He is very good at finishing so it was a very good game for him.”
The other two debuts
Allan Elias, signed from Palmeiras at the end of August, also made his debut: he scored the third goal and set up Samba's first. So did Gerónimo Rulli, bought by City in July 2016, loaned out immediately and never used: he debuted ten years later, back from Marseille on 12 August.
The other goals came from Cherki on 32 minutes and McAidoo on 90. Championship side Norwich finished without a single shot on target.
Our call
On Manchester City against Norwich our call was under 4.5 goals, confidence 5 out of 10: wrong: five goals, one too many for our read.
The third round and the draw
The third round opened on 8 September and closed on Thursday. The biggest ties: Manchester United knocked out 2-3 by Brighton after leading 2-0, something that had not happened to them at home in fifty years; Liverpool 3-1 Tottenham, Arsenal 4-2 Ipswich, Chelsea 6-3 Leeds, West Ham 2-3 Fulham, Coventry 1-3 Aston Villa, Everton 1-0 Wolves and Peterborough 3-3 Barnsley, settled on penalties.
The fourth round draw was made on Wednesday, before City played: the ball read “Manchester City or Norwich”. The ties, home side first: Fleetwood v Arsenal, Fulham v Crystal Palace, Liverpool v Chelsea, Everton v Newcastle, Manchester City v Brighton, Sunderland v Brentford, Bournemouth v Aston Villa, Bradford v Peterborough. They are played in the week commencing 26 October.
Back to the league on Sunday
City host Sunderland on Sunday at 14:00 UK time: the game was moved from Saturday because of Thursday's cup tie. Foden is serving a three-match ban after his red card in the derby and misses this one too. On Manchester City against Sunderland our call is over 1.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10.
Every game with our calls is on the Carabao Cup page and on the Premier League page. The record of settled calls is in the results history, and the individual ones are in player predictions.
