Kevin De Bruyne scored his sixth club goal in nine games to help Manchester City beat Crystal Palace to reach the Capital One Cup quarter-finals.
Wilfried Bony put the Premier League leaders in front when he powered in a header, before Belgian De Bruyne slotted home a second at the far post.
He then set up provider Kelechi Iheanacho, who fired in the third.
Yaya Toure made it 4-0 from the spot and Damien Delaney headed in for Palace before Manuel Garcia slotted in late.
City have been drawn at home to Hull in the last eight.
City underline favourites tag
Following Tuesday's League Cup shocks which saw Chelsea and Arsenal exit the competition, City fans might have feared the worst when Palace came to visit.
But once the teamsheet was announced, only the highly pessimistic among them would have predicted anything but a victory.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini left out Joe Hart, Raheem Sterling and Fernandinho but his 'second string' is almost as strong as their first. And against the visitors from London they rolled up their sleeves and produced a terrific attacking display.
Key to their recent successes has been midfielder De Bruyne, who has already gone a long way to justifying his £55m price tag.
He scored his sixth goal in nine games for City when he was picked out by Iheanacho and then supplied the pass for the teenager to score.
Teenager Iheanacho is great find
Palace will not want to see the precocious 19-year-old Nigerian again. His first ever City goal came at Selhurst Park earlier in the season and on Wednesday he scored one and set up another.
What was impressive about both key moments was the composure. For the De Bruyne goal, he looked up first and directed his ball into the path of the Belgian instead of a hit-and-hope across the six-yard area. And for his goal, he controlled De Bruyne's firm cross before firing a low drive wide of keeper Wayne Hennessey.
If Bony joined injured Sergio Aguero on the sidelines, then this teenager could confidently fill in the gap.
What they said
City manager Manuel Pellegrini on Iheanacho:
"It was very important for Kelechi to demonstrate once again that he's a very good player.
"He's not just a striker - he provided two assists - I'm very happy for him. He has things to improve but he's working in the correct way.
"I had no doubt in him - I see how he works every day and his personality is important and it's important for him to play with important players.
"Kelechi is not a box striker, he's not just a finisher - he must improve his control as he needs to do it better but he always plays with his head up as he showed creating the goal for Kevin."
Palace manager Alan Pardew:
"It was not so much an apology, but a thank you. We need to make sure we keep our fans with us.
"I know some of the fans had trouble getting here, so we'd like to say thank you and I hope we can repay them later in the season.
"It was a disappointing display, more offensively than defensively. We kept turning the ball over.
"Almost every time City had a chance they punished us, particularly in the first 60 minutes and that was very much the story."
Up next
Manuel Pellegrini's side face Norwich at home in the league, while Crystal Palace will this time host a Manchester club, as Louis van Gaal's United visit south London on Saturday.
LINEUP, BOOKINGS (2) & SUBSTITUTIONS (6)
Manchester City
- 13 Caballero
- 05 Zabaleta (Sagna - 56' )
- 26 Demichelis
- 20 Mangala
- 11 Kolarov Booked
- 15 Jesús Navas
- 06 Fernando
- 42 Y Touré
- 17 De Bruyne (Roberts - 75' )
- 14 Bony (Garcia Alonso - 84' )
- 72 Iheanacho
Substitutes
- 01 Hart
- 03 Sagna
- 04 Kompany
- 27 Roberts
- 30 Otamendi
- 62 Barker
- 76 Garcia Alonso
Crystal Palace
- 13 Hennessey
- 03 Mariappa (Ward - 85' )
- 06 Dann
- 27 Delaney
- 34 Kelly
- 15 Jedinak
- 28 Ledley
- 11 Zaha Booked
- 22 Mutch (Lee Chung-yong - 75' )
- 10 Bolasie
- 08 Bamford (Gayle - 77' )
Substitutes
- 02 Ward
- 04 Hangeland
- 09 Campbell
- 12 McCarthy
- 14 Lee Chung-yong
- 16 Gayle
- 26 Sako
Ref: Paul Tierney
Att: 40,585
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