Manchester City eased to a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Eastlands to set up an FA Cup quarter-final showdown with Bolton or West Ham. The home side took the lead on 17 minutes when Georgios Samaras stroked home at the second attempt after Thomas Sorensen had blocked his initial effort. Trevor Sinclair failed to beat the Villa keeper after being sent clean through just before the break but little went right for the visitors, who lost Patrik Berger to an Achilles injury in the warm-up, then top scorer Milan Baros. Czech ace Baros also missed Villa's only decent chance of the first half when his shot was blocked after a David James misjudgement. Darius Vassell doubled City's lead two minutes after the restart, diverting Albert Riera's shot home from close range after a goalmouth scramble and it was nearly 3-0 when Antoine Sibierski's header clipped the post. Steven Davis pulled one back for Villa with five minutes left as the visitors' late rally was rewarded - but City held on.