Delap, the 17-year-old son of former Stoke City favourite Rory, has sparked plenty of excitable talk through his explosive performances for City's youth teams and he wasted little time when it came to making an impression on his senior debut.
Pace, power and a dead-eyed finish in the 18th minute had Pep Guardiola celebrating with delight, but the City boss soon had a furrowed brow as Sam Surridge brought the Championship side level.
Flimsy defending and a failure to create regular clear chances saw Guardiola send for the cavalry in Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling, with the winner arriving in fortuitous fashion when Foden scuffed a shot into the turf and in after Riyad Mahrez's drive came back off the post.
Foden was one of three players retained from the City side that beat Wolves 3-1 in their Premier League opener and the England midfielder slipped a cute pass to Mahrez in the 16th minute, Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers saving at his near post.
Foden was the provider again two minutes later, with Delap powering past Jack Simpson and clipping a brilliant left-footed finish into the top corner.
City's other debutant, Zack Steffen, was picking the ball out of his net as Bournemouth found a swift, well-worked equaliser - Surridge firing a low shot across the United States international.
The hosts resumed with renewed purpose, Mahrez going close, but Bournemouth continued to threaten a disjointed defence on the counter-attack.
Surridge twice broke through - a combination of Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Eric Garcia, then a wildly sliding Steffen denying him.
Guardiola had seemingly seen enough and sent on De Bruyne and Sterling in place of holding midfielders Rodri and Tommy Doyle after the hour.
But it was Foden who decisively showed his poaching instincts 15 minutes from time.
Surridge could have sent the tie to penalties but glanced wastefully wide in the 87th minute.
Holding a comfortable 3-0 aggregate lead from the first leg, United's position never looked to be in real threat but the hosts struggled to capitalise on their chances.
Wout Weghorst hit the post in the first half and United continued to be unable to convert in the early exchanges of the second half until a triple change on the hour mark.
Martial finally broke that deadlock after 73 minutes, with Fred then poking home from close range to add further gloss to the scoreline and secure a date against Newcastle United on February 23.
The manager has given debuts this season to six players aged 20 and under, including defender Levi Colwill who has become an England international after featuring in all but one of Pochettino’s games in charge at Stamford Bridge.
Alex Matos, the 19-year-old forward signed from Norwich in the summer, was an unused substitute during Saturday’s 2-0 win against Sheffield United having made his Premier League debut in October against Fulham.
There have also been Chelsea bows for academy graduate Bashir Humphreys, 20, the 18-year-old Brazilian striker Deivid Washington, 19-year-old defender Diego Moreira and Mason Burstow, the 20-year-old forward signed from Charlton in 2022.
With a long injury list that continues to limit Pochettino’s options, the depth of the first-team squad has been tested despite a colossal £1billion outlay on recruitment during the last 18 months.
The manager singled out Matos in particular for praise, and emphasised the need to keep young players at the club believing that their path to the senior team will not be blocked by established signings.
“His (Matos) personality, his character is always so focused,” said Pochettino. “Of course he’s talented with potential. He’s really impressed me with his focus in everything. He’s so smart, watching always everything, always smiling.
“To compete with the first-team players is tough. But he’s really competitive, he’s really strong. He’ll kick you and smile at you.
“It’s nice to have this type of profile. I’m happy with him. There’s some massive talent in the academy in all the different teams.
“After four, five months we’ve had possibility to assess them all, and I think we have many young, talented players that, with time and given the possibility, can reach the level of Chelsea.”
Pochettino’s side host Newcastle in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday as the club hunts a first trophy since winning the Champions League in 2021 under former boss Thomas Tuchel.
The manager, who is himself yet to win silverware during his time in England having lost the final of this competition to Chelsea in 2015 when he was Tottenham boss, emphasised the importance of the game and intimated there would not be wholesale changes from the win against the Blades.
Nevertheless, youth development remains a pillar of his philosophy as he continues his rebuild of the west London side.
“The challenge is also to improve the young players that have arrived, like Romeo Lavia or Deivid Washington,” he said. “But also the players coming through the academy, we care a lot about that. We love the work that they are doing there in the academy.
“The talent is there, now we need to create the capacity. They need to believe that they can reach the first team. It’s not only about signing young players. It’s about academy players having the opportunity if they deserve to be involved.”
An Addicks side showing 10 changes from their weekend win over Leyton Orient took the lead through Daniel Kanu just before half-time.
But second-half goals from Aaron Wildig, Will Evans and Seb Palmer-Houlden sent County through to the second round for the seventh season in succession.
Charlton had the better of the first half, with Kanu seeing an early effort saved by Nick Townsend before Panutche Camara and Jack Payne both wasted decent opportunities.
Debutant Josh Seberry had Newport’s best chance of the first half, but his header from a corner was straight at Harry Isted.
The visitors went ahead after 43 minutes when Kanu turned in a wayward shot from substitute Tyreece Campbell.
Harry Charsley hit a post as the home side started the second half on the front foot.
And Wildig equalised in the 63rd minute with a cool finish from the right of the six-yard box.
Evans converted a cross from substitute Matty Bondswell to complete the turnaround after 76 minutes.
And Palmer-Houlden made certain of the victory as he slotted in 10 minutes from time after being teed up by Charsley.
On a foggy night at the One Call Stadium, League One Vale dominated the first half and lively Sheffield United loanee Oliver Arblaster saw Christy Pym save his 10th-minute shot after turning superbly.
Funso Ojo headed a Tom Sang cross over soon after, while Pym had to save well at his near post from Sang after Calum Macdonald had given the ball away after 19 minutes.
Arblaster almost broke through three minutes later as he guided a Sang cross goalwards on the volley only to see it hit the post.
Mansfield’s best moment came after 31 minutes as Louis Reed crossed from the right and Davis Keillor-Dunn met it with a powerful six-yard volley that flew straight at Connor Ripley, who was able to block.
The deadlock was broken five minutes into the second half as Alfie Devine picked up a loose ball in the Stags half, ran on and smashed a low shot from 25 yards into the bottom-right corner, which proved the difference on the night.
Nelson’s first-half goal, after some dreadful Brentford defending, was enough to send the Gunners through to the fourth round.
Ramsdale was handed a recall after being dropped in favour of David Raya, who joined from Brentford this summer.
Raya had started Arsenal’s previous three games, including Sunday’s north London derby against Tottenham, displacing Ramsdale after 52 consecutive Premier League games.
With Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice injured against Spurs to join Thomas Partey, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard and Jurrien Timber on the sidelines, Mikel Arteta made eight changes in total.
The visitors took the lead after only eight minutes thanks to a mistake by the recalled Mathias Jorgensen, whose pass back wrong-footed Ethan Pinnock.
Eddie Nketiah leapt on the error, cutting the ball back for Nelson who stepped past a sliding Nathan Collins before neatly finishing past Mark Flekken.
Brentford were flat for long periods of their home defeat by Everton in the Premier League on Saturday and this was more of the same in the first half.
They would have been two down after half an hour but for the outstretched leg of Flekken which denied Emile Smith Rowe a goal.
The Bees look as though they are starting to miss their striker Ivan Toney, who is still suspended for admitting breaches of gambling rules and is likely to be an Arsenal target when he is available again in January.
But they eventually began to get forward and Vitaly Janelt’s shot was blocked by the diving Takehiro Tomiyasu.
They almost equalised when captain Christian Norgaard beat Kai Havertz in midfield and crossed for Yoane Wissa, whose first-time shot flew just wide.
There was a wobbly moment for Ramsdale when he was almost caught in possession by Wissa, but the ball ran away from the Bees frontman.
But the keeper came up with a fine save midway through the second half, pushing Wissa’s snap-shot against the far post.
Nelson could have had a second when Havertz got clear down the left and played the ball across, but his shot clipped the outside of Flekken’s post.
Flekken saved well from Nketiah at his near post before Ramsdale flung himself to his left to beat away Frank Onyeka’s drive as the Gunners held on.
Matt Gray’s side had never won a match in the competition before this season, but their hopes of progressing were dashed by Ojo’s late 25-yard stunner at Vale Park.
Substitute Hisham Kasimu cancelled out Swansea loanee Josh Thomas’s opener before Ojo quashed any hope of penalties.
Dion Pereira went closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half as he was denied by goalkeeper Connor Ripley.
Thomas’s pace completed a quick-fire counter four minutes into the second half as he left the visitors’ defence for dead before rifling home.
Aiden O’Brien’s effort hit the crossbar before falling gratefully into the arms of Ripley.
But Kasimu made no mistake as he latched onto a long ball to fire Sutton level with 20 minutes left.
Jack Rose produced a good save with his legs to keep out Alfie Devine, but Vale were not to be denied as Ojo, who had been on the pitch less than 90 seconds, rocketed home the winner seven minutes from time.
City started their season with a 3-1 win over Wolves on Monday, with Torres – a £21.1million signing from Valencia – coming on as a late substitute for his maiden outing.
The winger was then handed his first start by Pep Guardiola against the Cherries, with a host of youngsters included in a much-changed starting XI.
Only Kyle Walker, Rodri and Phil Foden retained their places from the side which started at Molineux.
Adrian Bernabe and Liam Delap – son of former Stoke City long-throw specialist Rory – were also handed starts, while Eric Garcia, who has been linked with a move away from the club, and academy product Taylor Harwood-Bellis lined up in defence.
Tommy Doyle impressed in a handful of cup appearances last term, and he was named in midfield alongside Foden, with Riyad Mahrez given the nod out wide. There was also a debut for goalkeeper Zack Steffen.
Nathan Ake was on the bench against his former club, with stars Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne also in reserve for the holders.
Nemanja Matic's strike earned United a 1-0 win at the Etihad Stadium, but it was not enough to prevent City advancing to the EFL Cup final with a 3-2 aggregate victory.
The game was somewhat marred by events in the stands as videos circulated on social media of City fans appearing to make aeroplane gestures in reference to the Munich air disaster.
Tempers frayed at full-time and a number of seats were allegedly ripped out and thrown from the away end.
Guardiola criticised the actions of those involved, a day after United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward's house was attacked, and Solskjaer echoed the Catalan's views.
"Yeah, I've just got to stand behind Pep there," he said at his post-match news conference.
"You know, football is a game, it's a game we should all enjoy, spectators, the ones who watch it on telly, the ones who're playing.
"I keep telling the players every time, go out with a big smile and enjoy yourselves. Work hard, yes, and fans should always try to enjoy the games.
"We want rivalry, but let's keep it at a sane level. And let's make sure we eradicate that. I stand behind Pep there and I think all of us do. We want to make this a nice game."
City will face Aston Villa, 3-2 aggregate winners against Leicester City, in the Wembley final on March 1.
The Welsh side, who will be participating in the competition for the first time since 2007-08 following their promotion to League Two, were paired with the 2006 runners-up in Thursday’s first-round draw.
Notts County, who came up from the National League along with Wrexham, were handed a home tie against Lincoln.
Leicester, Leeds and Southampton must play in the first round following their relegation from the Premier League.
Leeds will host Shrewsbury, the Foxes will head across the midlands to Burton and Southampton will travel to Gillingham.
The ties will be played in the week beginning August 7. The first-round draw, featuring sides from the Championship, League One and League Two, was split into northern and southern sections.
The majority of top-flight sides will enter in the second round with those involved in European competitions going straight through to the third round.
