The FA Cup season continued with the third round with these games played over the weekend, Friday-Monday.
A number of Premier League sides fell at the first hurdle as this competition – sadly – continues to show an apparent lack of interest from many. In fact Cardiff boss Neil Warnock said he ‘struggled to get out of bed’ for his sides defeat!
Here’s a round up of the action from the other games played.
Results
Friday 6th January 2017 – FA CUP – THIRD ROUND
West Ham United 0-5 Manchester City 19:55
Saturday 7th January 2017 – FA CUP – THIRD ROUND
Manchester United 4-0 Reading 12:30
Accrington Stanley 2-1 Luton Town 15:00
Barrow 0-2 Rochdale 15:00
Birmingham City 1-1 Newcastle United 15:00
Blackpool 0-0 Barnsley 15:00
Bolton Wanderers 0-0 Crystal Palace 15:00
Brentford 5-1 Eastleigh 15:00
Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 Milton Keynes Dons 15:00
Bristol City 0-0 Fleetwood Town 15:00
Everton 1-2 Leicester City 15:00
Huddersfield Town 4-0 Port Vale 15:00
Hull City 2-0 Swansea City 15:00
Ipswich Town 2-2 Lincoln City 15:00
Millwall 3-0 Bournemouth 15:00
Norwich City 2-2 Southampton 15:00
Queens Park Rangers 1-2 Blackburn Rovers 15:00
Rotherham United 2-3 Oxford United 15:00
Stoke City 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 15:00
Sunderland 0-0 Burnley 15:00
Sutton United 0-0 AFC Wimbledon 15:00
Watford 2-0 Burton Albion 15:00
West Bromwich Albion 1-2 Derby County 15:00
Wigan Athletic 2-0 Nottingham Forest 15:00
Wycombe Wanderers 2-1 Stourbridge 15:00
Preston North End 1-2 Arsenal 17:30
Sunday 8th January 2017 – FA CUP – THIRD ROUND
Cardiff City 1-2 Fulham 11:30
Liverpool 0-0 Plymouth Argyle 13:30
Chelsea 4-1 Peterborough United 15:00
Middlesbrough 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday 15:00
Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Aston Villa 16:00
Monday 9th January 2017 – FA CUP – THIRD ROUND
Cambridge United 1-2 Leeds United 19:45
The FA Cup third round is traditionally one of the greatest days in the football calendar. However, this isn’t meant to take place on a Friday night though – or a Monday for that matter – is it! But Friday is when this round got underway with Manchester City thrashing West Ham 5-0 at the London Stadium.
Saturday – the more traditional day – saw a few Premier League clubs suffer upset defeats. Mark Hughes wouldn’t add another winners medal to his collection in May as Stoke were beaten 2-0 by Wolves at the Bet365 Stadium. Also suffering a home defeat to a Championship side were West Brom when Derby came from behind to win 2-1 at the Hawthorns. The biggest upset of the day saw Millwall thrash AFC Bournemouth – albeit a side that saw 10 changes – 3-0 at the Den.
There wasn’t a problem for Manchester United though as Jose Mourinho’s side spoilt Jaap Stam’s return to Old Trafford when they beat Reading 4-0 in the early kick off. Watford put the poor league form behind them to beat Championship strugglers Burton 2-0 at Vicarage Road. In the late kick off Preston had taken the lead at Deepdale but Arsenal eventually got back on level terms before securing a late 2-1 win.
All Premier-League ties saw Everton beaten 2-1 at Goodison Park by Leicester and strugglers Hull and Swansea meeting at the KCOM Stadium – the Tigers collecting a morale boosting 2-0 win. However, an unwanted replay will be needed as Sunderland and Burnley played out a 0-0 draw at the Stadium of Light.
If Crystal Palace and Southampton are to remain in the cup they’ll have to come through home replays. Sam Allardyce’s return to Bolton saw his Palace side held to a 0-0 draw with the Saints held at Norwich 2-2.
Three of the five non-league sides looking to cause upsets saw their cup runs ended as Rochdale won 2-0 at Barrow with Wycombe just doing enough at Adams Park to beat Stourbridge 2-1 in the end. Martin Allen’s return to Brentford with Eastleigh resulted in his side being thrashed 5-1 at Griffin Park.
However, Lincoln and Sutton went into the fourth round draw after drawing 2-2 against Ipswich (A) and 0-0 with Wimbledon (H), respectively.
Championship leaders Brighton didn’t suffer at the Amex Stadium against struggling League 1 side MK Dons with a 2-0 win secured. There wasn’t a problem for Huddersfield – in the end – against Port Vale either as Town eventually ran out 4-0 winners.
But the Championship’s bottom side Rotherham were edged out by the odd goal in five by Oxford who won 3-2 at the New York Stadium. Barnsley will need a replay against Blackpool after the League 2 side held them to a 0-0 draw at Bloomfield Road with Bristol City held to a 0-0 draw at Ashton Gate against League 1 promotion chasing Fleetwood.
The all-Championship tie between Birmingham and Newcastle ended in a 1-1 draw at St Andrew’s with relegation threatened Blackburn and Wigan both advancing to the next round. Rovers won 2-1 at QPR with the Latics seeing off struggling Nottingham Forest 2-0 at the DW Stadium.
Completing the ties from Saturday we saw the all-League 2 tie between Accrington and Luton, which was won by relegation threatened Stanley 2-1 at the Crown Ground.
Sunday’s early kick off – 11:30 was a bit too early for Cardiff boss Warnock – resulted in the Bluebirds being knocked out 2-1 by Championship rivals Fulham.
Having fielded the side with the youngest average age in their history Liverpool will now have to replay against League 2 promotion chasing Plymouth. The Pilgrims recorded a 0-0 draw at Anfield.
Chelsea didn’t have a problem seeing off League 1 side Peterborough – winning 4-1 at Stamford Bridge – with Middlesbrough also comfortably through in the end beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-0. Tottenham eventually joined their Premier League rivals in round four after beating Aston Villa 2-0.
Following the fourth round draw on Monday the third round – as far as the original ties were concerned anyway – ended with Leeds coming from behind to secure a win at Cambridge. The U’s were on for an upset for a while before eventually going out 2-1 at the Abbey Stadium.
Who was the MotM? That’s what the latest poll is asking so do cast a vote.
Did a starter, or someone from the bench, offer the most?
Select the name you want from the list in the poll to your right. We’re also looking for some thoughts and views on the game so do share some with a comment or two below.