FA Cup 4th Round Draw

FA Cup Review 2009

After the upset of the weekend at the City of Manchester Stadium where Notts Forest won 3-0, it is fair to say that the magic of the FA Cup is very much alive. As Portsmouth proved in 2008, any team can defy the top 4 Premier League clubs and take this great trophy.

After Manchester United beat Southampton at St Mary's Stadium 3-0, Tottenham fans' fears were confirmed: away at Old Trafford. Fantastic Merseyside derby is the tie of the fourth round draw is Liverpool vs Everton at Anfield. Should Chelase beat Southend away they would face Ipsiwch Town at home and Arsenal are away at Cardiff City.

FA Cup 2009 fourth round draw:
Liverpool v Everton
Manchester United v Tottenham
Hull or Newcastle v Millwall or Crewe
Sunderland v Blyth or Blackburn
Hartlepool v West Ham
Leyton Orient or Sheffield United v Charlton or Norwich
Cardiff v Arsenal
Portsmouth or Bristol City v Histon or Swansea
Chelsea or Southend v Ipswich
Cheltenham or Doncaster v Aston Villa
West Brom or Peterborough v QPR or Burnley
Torquay v Coventry
Kettering v Fulham
Watford v Leicester or Crystal Palace
Derby v Nottingham Forest
Birmingham or Wolves v Middlesbrough

FA Cup 3rd round results

Tottenham Hotspur and Wigan had the first FA Cup match of 2009 at White Hart Lane on Friday 2nd January. Spurs won 3-1 with Ukranian striker Roman Pavlichenko showing good form and scoring twice.

The biggest upset of the weeken so far was Manchester City losing 3-0 at home to Championship team Nottingham Forest.

Southend also managed to scored an equaliser at Stamford Bridge in injury time against Chelsea to secure a tricky away replay for the Blues.

Arsenal looked comfortable against Plymouth Argyle in their 3-1 victory with Robin Van Persie scoring twice and taking the role of captaincy for the first time.

Liverpool were away at Preston North End and took the lead with Rierain the 25th minute and looked extremely vibrant but struggled to get a second goal. Captain Steven Gerrard made his feet do the talking after a difficult week with the arrest regarding an alleged assault on a DJ over the Christmas period. It was Gerrard that broke through in the 93rd minute with no Preston defensive cover and passed generously to a Fernando Torres (just returned from injury) to slot home a second to secure the Reds' progression to the second round.

Today's fixtures in the FA Cup 3rd round:

FA Cup 3rd Round 4th January 2009
Gillingham v Aston Villa 13.30
Southampton v Man Utd 16.00