Liverpool brush aside Accrington Stanley 4-0 in FA Cup third round

LIVERPOOL, England :Liverpool eased past League Two (fourth-tier) Accrington Stanley as Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold's first-half goals and strikes from Jayden Danns and Federico Chiesa after the break secured a 4-0 win in Saturday's FA Cup third-round clash.

While it was a short trip south to Liverpool for Accrington, the gulf in quality between the teams was apparent as the spirited visitors, despite their best efforts, failed to keep the Premier League and Champions League leaders at bay.

Liverpool took the lead when Alexander-Arnold sent Darwin Nunez up the right just before the half-hour mark as Liverpool countered after an Accrington free-kick. The Uruguayan crossed to Jota in the box who scored with a tap-in.

The hosts doubled their advantage just before the break as Alexander-Arnold found the top corner with a perfectly placed shot from outside the box into the far top corner.

The 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha, who made history as the youngest Liverpool player to start a competitive match or make an FA Cup appearance for the club, was replaced in the 72nd minute by Danns, who netted four minutes later when Billy Crellin's save from Chiesa fell to the Liverpool-born forward.

Forward Chiesa then got his name on the scoresheet in the 90th by firing into the bottom corner, after an earlier shot hit the woodwork, marking the Italian's first goal for Liverpool.

Nunez's early misses from inside the box had prolonged Liverpool's wait for a breakthrough as he failed to connect with Harvey Elliott's headed cross and shot wide when Everton loanee Crellin's stop to deny Alexander-Arnold fell to him.

Accrington, who had no shots on target in the first half, almost got a goal back in the 57th minute but Josh Woods' shot rattled