FA Cup News
Liverpool eased past Wolves to reach the quarter-finals
2 min: Liverpool appear to be employing a one-man press. Jones. That’s it. Wolves play through it, and Mane dallies over a shot from the edge of the D. He can’t get one away, but then Gravenberch clips Toti and it’s a free kick for Wolves in a dangerous position, just left of centre, 30 yards out.
Liverpool get the ball rolling. “It’s 1-0 Falkirk,” writes Simon McMahon. “Hic!”
Continue reading...Thirty-four years on from Mickey Thomas’ winner against Arsenal, the Welsh club seek statement win over Chelsea
“It’s just surreal,” says the former Wrexham midfielder Mickey Thomas, scorer of arguably the club’s most famous goal. When he helped strike down Arsenal, the reigning English champions, in the FA Cup third round in 1992, he could not have expected 34 years later to be regularly rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s biggest stars, regaling them with the story of how he smashed a free-kick past David Seaman.
In recent years, Wrexham have welcomed a glittering array of famous Hollywood guests to Cae Ras, thanks to Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, who often invite Thomas to the owners’ box. The north Wales town has become a hotbed for famous faces, all given the warmest welcome by a club enjoying a meteoric rise.
Continue reading...Premier League champions have looked slow and lacked tempo with the spotlight on their wingers
Winger is “the hardest position to play” in modern football, according to Arne Slot, and Liverpool’s wide men would find it hard to disagree. A lot of Liverpool’s problems this season can be attributed to their attacking flair being stifled, leaving the champions 19 points adrift of Premier League leaders, Arsenal.
Liverpool return to Molineux on Friday, three days after a stoppage-time defeat by Wolves in the league. The FA Cup fifth-round fixture will be an opportunity for Slot to test his bullpen of wingers and see whether they can do better. Liverpool have scored 48 goals in 29 league matches, the average of 1.66 a game a long way short of the 2.26 when winning last season’s title.
Continue reading...Garnacho gets his chance to stake a claim, a big day for Port Vale and more scheduling concerns for Guardiola
Who would have thought approaching mid-March Wolves would be the Midlands team – at least in the Premier League – with the most to cheer? Aston Villa, while fourth and still capable of securing a place in the Champions League, are wobbling. Nottingham Forest are fighting relegation. In the Championship, Coventry are at the summit but West Brom and Leicester are in danger of dropping into League One. Wolves and third-tier Mansfield are the only Midlands sides remaining in the FA Cup and, while the latter host Arsenal, the former may quietly fancy their chances when Liverpool visit Molineux for the second time in four days. Rob Edwards’s side triumphed on Tuesday and, while it got lost amid the stoppage-time drama, he made several changes with Friday’s Cup tie in mind. “Does it have to be one or the other?” Edwards said. “No, so we are going to try and win both. It is going to be a really exciting night.” Ben Fisher
Wolves v Liverpool, Friday 8pm (all kick-offs GMT)
Mansfield v Arsenal, Saturday 12.15pm
Wrexham v Chelsea, Saturday 5.45pm
Newcastle v Manchester City, Saturday 8pm
Continue reading...Wrexham host Chelsea this weekend. It took three matches in nine days to separate the teams when they met in 1982
In some ways, history is repeating itself. In 1982 Chelsea and Wrexham met in the FA Cup after they had beaten Hull City and Nottingham Forest, respectively, in previous rounds. The same has happened in 2026; but this is where the similarities end.
When the clubs met 44 years ago they were both in the second tier and had huge debts. With Chelsea reportedly £1.6m in the red, the future of Stamford Bridge was in doubt as property developers hovered. Relegation-threatened Wrexham spent the majority of the 1980s merely trying to survive.
Continue reading...Pressure is telling on Scott Parker at Burnley while Dominik Szoboszlai is reaching new heights for Liverpool
The lack of pressure on Scott Parker this season, despite a collection of desperate performances and an impending relegation, has been mystifying. Plenty at Turf Moor feel a strong sense of loyalty to Parker, especially the chairman, Alan Pace, but support in the stands is dwindling. The lack of backing in the winter transfer window left the squad short of quality and with limited routes out of their current predicament. The Burnley head coach’s Premier League record is miserable and the style of play is devoid of entertainment. At the weekend he had the chance to follow a first league victory in 17 matches at Crystal Palace with FA Cup progress against third-tier Mansfield, but instead Burnley were deservedly eliminated. The second-half efforts of the Clarets bordered on embarrassment in a half-full ground and it feels like things cannot continue like this much longer. Will Unwin
Match report: Burnley 1-2 Mansfield
Match report: Aston Villa 1-3 Newcastle
Match report: Liverpool 3-0 Brighton
Match report: Burton 0-1 West Ham (aet)
Match report: Hull 0-4 Chelsea
Continue reading...After Macclesfield’s FA Cup giantkilling, the quiet Cheshire town remains suitably unassuming in the spotlight after years of heartbreak
Along the passenger bridge at Macclesfield railway station, a frieze celebrates the town’s history. Towards the far platform it reads “1874, Macclesfield Town established”. The next entry is “1979, Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures released”. Local humour has it that for 105 years nothing happened in Macclesfield. “Macc’s Macc,” say those who know of a place where change is for ever slow, many Maxonians happy enough with that.
The town, in the east of Cheshire, a gateway to England’s north-west, is a classic northern mill town, though silk was the product not cotton. It once would have been described as a bustling market town until falling victim to the nationwide death of the high street, its Marks & Spencer branch boarded up in disuse and footfall low. That said, the outdoor Treacle Market, selling artisan foods and trinkets, held on the last Sunday of each month, claims to be the region’s “biggest monthly event”.
Continue reading...Arsenal had scored all four goals by the 27th minute before the manager-less League One side stemmed the flow
Breaking: Riccardo Calafiori got hurt in the warmup so Bukayo Saka is a starter, and captain. MLS in midfield looks like it will be an experiment for another day.
Sunday’s FA Cup matches already.
Continue reading...Mo Salah was back on the scoresheet as Liverpool breezed past Brighton to reach the fifth round
1 min: Whigfield lied about the air. It’s a cold night on Merseyside.
After an exuberant rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, Brighton get the ball rolling. They’re kicking towards the Kop in this first half.
Continue reading...On a night when VAR – or the lack of it – came under serious scrutiny, Newcastle came from behind to beat their hosts with three second-half goals
1 min: Tammy Abraham gets the ball rolling, playing it a few yards backwards to Amadou Onana. Within seconds it finds its way to the feet of Villa goalkeeper Marco Bizot.
Not long now: Kieran Trippier and Lucas Digne skipper the sides, which are led out on to the Villa Park pitch by referee Chris Kavanagh and his team of match officials soundtracked by Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train. Kick-off is just a couple of minutes away.
Continue reading...Pep Guardiola spoke of the slog of the schedule and Manchester City performed as if dog-tired when knocking out Salford in a tie the manager pithily described as “boring”.
City were abject and half-paced and in danger of being forced into extra time, at least, until Marc Guéhi’s 80th-minute close-range strike doubled the lead. It was the defender’s first goal for the club he joined last month.
Continue reading...Crysensio Summerville’s deflected strike in added time separated the sides in a Cup tie that could scarcely have been much lower on quality
A groundsman is called on to perform some crochet on one of the goal nets, which appears to be torn. As those repairs are carried out, a plane flies over the ground trailing a protest banner telling David Sullivan and Karren Brady to get out of West Ham.
Not long now: It’s a nice sunny Valentine’s Day in Staffordshire and the teams are out on the pitch in the compact Pirelli Stadium. West Ham are hoping to get the job done, Burton are hoping to make it to the fifth round for the first time in their history and kick-off is just a few minutes away.
Continue reading...Pedro Neto’s hat-trick and Liam Delap’s hat-trick of assists made for Liam Rosenior’s happy Hull return
Hull have been a considerable talent school in recent years: Harry Maguire, Jarrod Bowen, Andy Robertson and lately Keane Lewis-Potter have all carved decent careers in the Premier League. Tom Cairney, too.
Liam Rosenior has FA Cup heritage, and played in this Wembley final classic in 2014. City were unlucky in this game, very unlucky.
Continue reading...Manager’s unconventional techniques are designed to bring fun as well as results and he has West Ham in his sights
“At times the players must think I’m bonkers,” says Gary Bowyer, the Burton Albion manager, volunteering the time he walked into the dressing room with a tennis racket and ball. It is one of the unconventional techniques he has used to convey his message and tap into their psyche. Every week he explores different themes and stories with his squad – be it bullfighting or UFC – and brings them to life through imagery and props, everything from dragons to toy tigers.
He has leaned into boxing and particularly Mike Tyson during an FA Cup run that has led them to a fourth-round tie at home to West Ham on Saturday. “The theme for this week is The Ultimate,” he says, referencing Tyson’s 1987 bout with Tony Tucker to become the undisputed heavyweight champion. “We’ve created this idea of climbing into the ring, the pitch, and away you go. We’re fighting West Ham and we’re going to have to take some blows. What do you do if you get knocked on to the canvas? Get back up or lay there and take it?”
Continue reading...Brighton had a bizarre season in 1982-83: they ended Liverpool’s quadruple hopes, reached the FA Cup final for the first time and finished bottom of the league
It was perceived by many as a bye. When the runaway league leaders Liverpool were drawn against rock-bottom Brighton at Anfield in the last 16 of the FA Cup in 1983, they were expected to take another step in their quest to win an unprecedented quadruple.
Brighton’s charismatic caretaker manager Jimmy Melia was trying his best to talk up his team’s hopes. “There is no way this draw means the end of the line,” the former Liverpool player protested. “We were the last side to win at Anfield, in March 1982.”
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