Category: FA Cup

Manager has overseen three wins in a row and wants to go deep in FA Cup in final Goodison Park season

Everton played their first FA Cup tie at Goodison Park 132 years ago and on Saturday could play their last. What a miserable, defeatist outlook that is, although it is typical of the mindset David Moyes has tried to break since walking back through the door four weeks ago.

“Oh I’d love to get to the Cup final, I really would,” the Everton manager said on Friday. “We need to start bringing some good news back around Everton if we can and getting to the next round would be a good news story.”

Continue reading...

Harry Maguire: from up for sale two summers ago to redemption completed via a 93rd-minute nodded winner. If the defender was clearly offside when meeting Bruno Fernandes’s spiralling free-kick from the left he certainly did not care as here was his own tale of FA Cup romance.

Before the rush of Maguire’s intervention, Joshua Zirkzee’s 67th-minute equaliser appeared the lifeline United needed to keep a shaky FA Cup defence alive.

Continue reading...

A contentious last-gasp header from Harry Maguire secured the hosts’ passage to the fifth round

Ruud also talked about Jeremy Monga, the 15-year-old he has on the bench. “He went up to the Under-18s, did well, went up to the Under-21s and did well there too.” They grow up so fast.

The game is on ITV in Britain and Ruud van Nistelrooy is chatting to the pundits. Asked if it feels odd to be at Old Trafford as the visiting manager, he reveals that he went into the home dressing-room by mistake. When he reached the away one, he didn’t much like it. “It’s tiny! And not comfortable. So they got that right.”

Continue reading...

• Jenas was dismissed from BBC roles in August
• Former player returning to TalkSport this weekend

Jermaine Jenas insists he has taken responsibility for the conduct that led to his dismissal from the BBC as he prepares to return to broadcasting.

The former Tottenham and England midfielder was dismissed from his roles on Match Of The Day and The One Show in August after messages he sent to two women came to light. Jenas apologised for his actions and is set to return to the public eye as part of TalkSport’s coverage of the FA Cup fourth-round tie between Aston Villa and Spurs on Sunday. It is understood that has caused concern among some members of staff at the radio station who are refusing to work with Jenas.

Continue reading...

• Tottenham manager fights on after Anfield mauling
• ‘It’s irrelevant to me what other people’s opinions are’

Ange Postecoglou has insisted he is not thinking about the possibility of being sacked if Tottenham are knocked out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa on Sunday and has backed his players to recover from their 4-0 thrashing at Liverpool.

A weary Spurs squad returned to London in the early hours of Friday with criticism ringing in their ears after surrendering their 1-0 advantage from the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. They did not manage a shot on target at Anfield, prompting the Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp to describe their performance as “abject”.

Continue reading...

Marcus Rashford could make his Aston Villa debut as Birmingham aim to bring Newcastle back to earth

For spice, consider how this tie is the sides’ third meeting this term. Manchester United won the first two with an aggregate of 8-2, Ruud van Nistelrooy was interim manager for each, then Ruben Amorim made the Dutchman unemployed when taking over as the head coach in mid-autumn. Now returning to Old Trafford as Leicester’s No 1, Van Nistelrooy can expect a warm welcome due to his former status as a star United striker. But if he engineers a knockout of the holders, Van Nistelrooy will be recast, temporarily, as the villain of the faithful. Jamie Jackson

Manchester United v Leicester, Friday 8pm (all times GMT)

Leyton Orient v Manchester City, Saturday 12.15pm

Coventry v Ipswich, Saturday 3pm

Everton v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm

Continue reading...

Mikel Arteta’s team have had a painful start to 2025 and are now facing challenges in three competitions

• Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

For Arsenal, the pattern was all too familiar. They won the xG against Manchester United on Sunday, depending which model you prefer, by around 3.5 to 0.5, but they drew the game 1-1 and with a certain inevitability, lost on penalties. The previous Tuesday, in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final, they’d won the xG 3.1-1.2 but lost 2-0 to Newcastle. The previous Saturday, in the league, they drew 1-1 at Brighton despite having won the xG 1.5-0.9. They have begun 2025 by failing to turn dominance into goals and, very quickly, their hopes of a trophy are evaporating.

This was a very good weekend for the FA Cup. Plymouth, bottom of the Championship, pulled off the big upset by eliminating Brentford, while League Two Bromley went ahead before succumbing to Newcastle, non-league Tamworth took Tottenham to extra-time and there were further shocks as Doncaster and Exeter eliminated Hull and Oxford. But the culmination of Sunday’s sulphuric clash at the Emirates: no sense there of Premier League sides soft-pedalling. For Arsenal, the consequences could be hugely significant.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition

Continue reading...

Tamworth’s heroes deserve better, Pep Guardiola tries to fire up Jack Grealish and Liverpool’s teenagers impress

Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 tactics have little place in English football, it was said. Recent Manchester United performances of the resurrected Harry Maguire in tandem with Lisandro Martínez and Matthijs de Ligt suggest it can work if with sufficient energy in midfield to protect the trio. Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo offer that, and the wing play of Alejandro Garnacho in setting up Bruno Fernandes’s goal, plus Amad Diallo’s raiding runs at the Emirates Stadium, suggest the framework of a team. Penalty hero Altay Bayindir revealed he is a capable goalkeeper, a possible cult hero. There are complications. The club’s finances, chickens of the Glazer ownership now coming home to roost, may trigger selling “pure profit” youth products like Garnacho and Mainoo to fund recruitment. There are significant miles to travel, but the previous weekend’s draw at Anfield, and this 10-man heist at Arsenal are signs of a motivated team playing for their manager, closely following instructions. About time, too. John Brewin

Match report: Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United (3-5 on pens)

Match report: Brentford 0-1 Plymouth

Match report: Bristol City 1-2 Wolves

Match report: Tamworth 0-3 Tottenham

Match report: Leeds 1-0 Harrogate

Match report: Manchester City 8-0 Salford City

Match report: Liverpool 4-0 Accrington

Continue reading...

Altay Bayindir saved one penalty in normal time and one in the shootout as 10-man Manchester United sent the Gunners out

• FA Cup fourth-round draw – join our liveblog for latest
• Get in touch! Share your thoughts in an email to Simon

A shock! Doncaster Rovers, seventh in League Two, have knocked out Championship struggler Hull on penalties, away from home, after a 1-1 draw.

Spurs take a 2-0 lead, as at the Emirates Stadium the players gather in the tunnel.

Continue reading...

• Doncaster go through on penalties after 1-1 draw
• Kalvin Phillips helps Ipswich beat Bristol Rovers 3-0

Grant McCann expressed deep pride after League Two side Doncaster defeated Hull 5-4 on penalties in the third round of the FA Cup to earn a fourth‑round tie against Premier League Crystal Palace.

With the score 1-1 following extra time, Harry Clifton converted the winning spot-kick after Mason Burstow and Alfie Jones missed for the Championship team. Earlier, Luke Molyneux had given Doncaster the lead shortly after half-time but Hull equalised in the 80th minute when Gustavo Puerta followed up Burstow’s low shot that hit the base of the left post.

Continue reading...

During five years on Newcastle’s payroll Andy Woodman’s apparently endless supply of jokes prompted plenty of training ground laughter but club insiders knew better than to underestimate their goalkeeping coach.

That judgment was vindicated as, a decade after leaving Tyneside, Woodman returned in charge of Bromley. Ultimately, League Two’s 12th placed team could not prevent their hosts from recording an eighth straight victory in all competitions but, for quite a while, Woodman’s meticulously organised players ­frustrated Eddie Howe’s Premier League high flyers.

Continue reading...

For Crystal Palace supporters of a certain vintage, any meeting with Stockport is bound to bring back fond memories of Dougie Freedman’s heroics in 2001. More than two decades on from his late goal that ensured Palace avoided relegation to the third tier on the final day of the season and having spent most of the intervening period travelling in different directions, only an early strike from Eberechi Eze could separate Dave Challinor’s side from their Premier League opponents.

Oliver Glasner was grateful that Palace’s stand-in goalkeeper Matt Turner – who stepped in after a sickness bug ruled out Dean Henderson – stood firm in the second half as Stockport sniffed the opportunity of an upset but could not take their chances.

Continue reading...

Tamworth took Ange Postecoglou’s team to extra-time and had chances to win the game at the end of the 90

The goal nets look to have been tampered with. Behind Ange, a load of bloody hoons, to quote Alf Stewart, are making a nuisance of themselves, giving it the big one.

The teams take to the field. It looks brass monkeys in Tamworth. James Maddison is carrying out the team talk in the Tottenham huddle.

Continue reading...

• Walker has told manager he wishes to leave
• Full-back played no part in City’s 8-0 rout of Salford

Pep Guardiola is yet to decide if Kyle Walker will play for Manchester City again following the captain’s request to “explore the option” of playing abroad.

The 34-year-old was left out of the match-day squad for Saturday’s 8-0 FA Cup third round defeat of Salford City after informing the club on Thursday of his wish to depart.

Continue reading...

Mikel Arteta, whose side host Manchester United, is unlikely to be able to bolster his attack this month

“Gentlemen whose sole ability to build up a good side depends on the payment of heavy and exhorbitant [sic] transfer fees need not apply.”

This summer marks the 100th anniversary of the legendary Herbert Chapman’s appointment by Arsenal after the chairman, Sir Henry Norris, posted an advertisement in the Athletic News as they searched for a new manager. Times may have changed but the message must sound very familiar to Mikel Arteta.

Continue reading...