FA Cup
FA CUP: MAN CITY IN FA CUP STROLL, MINNOWS KNOCK OUT LEICESTER, FULHAM
Premier League champions Manchester City began their FA Cup campaign with a 7-0 thrashing of Rotherham on Sunday but Fulham, battling to avoid relegation from English football’s top-flight, were beaten 2-1 by fourth-tier Oldham.
Similarly, Newport County dumped 2016 Premier League champions Leicester City out of the competition at a raucous Rodney Parade thanks to Padraig Amond’s late penalty.
Barnet ensured there would be a non-league presence in the fourth round with a 1-0 win away to second-tier Championship club Sheffield United.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola may have made eight changes from the team that beat Premier League leaders Liverpool on Thursday but still fielded a strong side for the visit of Championship side Rotherham, with Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus all starting as playmaker Kevin De Bruyne returned from injury.
Sterling made it 1-0 in the 12th minute and City then scored twice in the closing stages of the first half.
Phil Foden, the England Under-21 international, got on the end of a cross from Ilkay Gundogan in the 43rd minute to score his first home goal for City before Rotherham defender Semi Ajayi turned the ball into his own net.
Jesus made it 4-0 early in the second half before Mahrez, Nicolas Otamendi and Leroy Sane added further goals.
“We are going to try and do well in every competition we play in,” Guardiola told the BBC.
Turning to Foden, he added: “He missed some simple passes and he needs to be solid but he is young. When he attacks the central defenders he is incredible.”
On Saturday, FA Cup holders Chelsea cruised to a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest in what seems certain to have been Cesc Fabregas’s final match for the Blues.
It was the same result as Manchester United beat Reading to make it five wins out of five under caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Arsenal, the record 13-times FA Cup winners, won 3-0 at Blackpool, West Ham beat Birmingham 2-0 and Everton defeated Lincoln 2-1.
Saturday also saw Championship club Bristol City beat top-flight basement club Huddersfield 1-0.
Elsewhere, in an all-Premier League clash, Brighton won 3-1 away to south coast rivals Bournemouth.
Second division Derby, managed by ex-England midfielder Frank Lampard, came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Premier League strugglers Southampton.
Newcastle were also held to a draw, 1-1 against second-tier Blackburn.
For Leicester, it was Jamille Matt’s perfectly placed header after a pulsating run and cross from Robbie Willmott gave the Exiles the advantage against a side 74 places above them in the football leagues.
Marc Albrighton hit the crossbar and Newport goalkeeper Joe Day produced a string of saves before Rachid Ghezzai smashed the Foxes level.
However, Amond’s 85th-minute penalty after Albrighton’s handball sent the crowd into raptures as Newport produced one of the greatest results in their history.
It is not an exaggeration to say Newport and Leicester are at completely opposite ends of the footballing scale. The year Leicester stunned the world under Claudio Ranieri to win the Premier League, Newport finished 22nd in League Two.
The enormity of the achievement was shown in scenes of jubilation at full-time as Newport’s players sank to their knees and punched the air in delight while their fans went wild.
Manager Michael Flynn hugged assistant Wayne Hatswell and his mentor, veteran manager Lennie Lawrence to celebrate a seismic result for the city.
The first weekend of semi-automated offside decisions in English soccer descended into confusion on Saturday as Bournemouth had a goal ruled out after a record eight-minute VAR check.
Bournemouth, who eventually beat Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers on penalties in the FA Cup fifth round after a 1-1 draw, thought they had doubled their lead when defender Milos Kerkez scored in the 35th-minute goal.
However, new technology could not be used because the six-yard area was too crowded and VAR officials had to revert to manually drawing lines before disallowing the goal.
Fellow defender Dean Huijsen was adjudged to have been in an offside position as Kerkez’s effort brushed his shoulder before going in to the net.
The VAR check was further complicated as VAR officials Timothy Wood and Darren England also had to also examine the possibility of hand balls prior to the tight offside call.
Both sets of fans voiced their disapproval at the interminable wait, chanting “it’s not football any more” and “this is embarrassing”.
Referee Sam Barrott, who eventually announced the decision to the crowd via a microphone, had to explain to the respective managers and players what was happening during the delay.
-Reuters
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FA Cup giant-killers Plymouth Argyle drew Premier League champions Manchester City on Monday as the second-tier side’s fifth-round reward for a shock defeat of Liverpool at the weekend.
Holders Manchester United will host Fulham at Old Trafford in one of at least three all-Premier League clashes, with League Cup finalists Newcastle United at home to top-tier rivals Brighton & Hove Albion.
Bournemouth will host Wolverhampton Wanderers in another all-top-flight encounter.
Struggling Plymouth caused one of the great upsets of the FA Cup on Sunday when they beat a second-string Liverpool 1-0, ending the Premier League leaders’ hopes of a quartet of trophies this season.
The Pilgrims are bottom of the Championship but City, who reached the fifth round with a 2-1 win at third-tier Leyton Orient on Saturday after going behind early on, have been misfiring this season.
There will be a fourth all-Premier League clash if Nottingham Forest avoid trouble at League One (third tier) Exeter City on Tuesday, with Ipswich Town awaiting the winners.
Aston Villa, who ended Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes on Sunday, host second tier Cardiff City.
The fifth round matches will be played on the weekend of March 1 and 2.
Last 16 draw:
- Preston North End v Burnley
- Aston Villa v Cardiff City
- Doncaster Rovers or Crystal Palace v Millwall
- Manchester United v Fulham
- Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion
- Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Manchester City v Plymouth Argyle
-Reuters
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A much-changed Liverpool were dumped out of the FA Cup by struggling second-tier side Plymouth Argyle, who pulled off a stunning 1-0 fourth-round win at Home Park on Sunday that put an end to the visitors’ hopes of a quadruple.
The hosts took the lead in the 53rd minute after they were awarded a penalty for a handball by midfielder Harvey Elliott and Ryan Hardie stepped up to send Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher the wrong way.
Premier League leaders Liverpool were bereft of ideas and had just one shot on target in the opening half, with Plymouth keeper Conor Hazard making a diving save in the 36th minute to keep out James McConnell’s long-range shot.
Ahead of the Merseyside derby against Everton on Wednesday, Liverpool made wholesale changes with Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Alexis Mac Allister among the big-names rested and left at home.
Liverpool, who were also forced into an early change when defender Joe Gomez went down injured, failed to create many chances in a scrappy encounter as Plymouth, who sit bottom of the second-tier Championship, gradually grew in confidence.
Arne Slot’s side switched gears after going down but Hazard proved to be the hero for Plymouth as the Northern Irishman brilliantly kept out Diogo Jota’s volley in added time, as well as a header from Darwin Nunez.
With Liverpool top of the Premier League, having strolled into the Champions League’s last 16 and reached the League Cup final, some fans and pundits had begun to speculate about a potential quadruple.
Plymouth’s remarkable victory, however, brought a shuddering halt to talk of clean sweep of silverware for Slot’s side, who had only lost three games all season, prior to Sunday.
Meanwhile, there was no surprise in the other FA Cup fourth-round tie with Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers beating second-tier Championship side Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at Ewood Park.
There was little to separate the two teams in the opening minutes before Wolves hit Blackburn with two rapid-fire goals through midfielder Joao Gomes in the 33rd minute and seconds later via forward Matheus Cunha.
Blackburn defender Dominic Hyam had the ball in the back of the net in the 19th minute, but his celebrations were cut short when the linesman’s flag went up for offside.
-Reuters
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