Manchester: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hopes more fans show up at the Etihad Stadium for the derby in midweek after questioning why there were 15,000 empty seats for his side's stroll past Fulham.
Nearly 40,000 were in attendance to see Tim Ream's sixth-minute red card give the Championship side a mountain to climb after he hauled down Gabriel Jesus inside the box.
Ilkay Gundogan converted the resulting penalty before Bernardo Silva's smart turn and shot quickly doubled City's advantage.
The visitors then held out for nearly an hour but two headers in three minutes from Jesus gave the scoreline a more accurate reflection of the English champions' dominance.
"Hopefully more people can come than today, hopefully (they) can support us more," said Guardiola.
"I don't know the reason why, but it was not full."
Guardiola's men have now won 17 domestic cup ties in a row.
The Catalan is relying on more cup success for silverware this season after conceding the Premier League title is beyond his side with Liverpool 16 points clear at the top of the table.
"Liverpool are just fantastic, phenomenal, overwhelming. So we have to accept it and learn from that," Guardiola said on the eve of the game.
Jurgen Klopp showed Liverpool's focus is very much on the title as he made 11 changes to the side that won at Wolves on Thursday for the trip to League One Shrewsbury Town later on Sunday.
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