2014 FA Cup, 3rd round: Swansea sends Manchester United packing

Manchester City might have been annoyed by Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, but they had no problem dispatching their Championship opponents in their FA Cup 3rd Round replay. Although the visitors battled throughout the first half, they simply didn’t have the quality to keep City (in particular, Alvaro Negredo) out for very long, eventually falling 5-0 as the hosts advanced easily.

The only surprise of the first half was how long it took City to open the scoring. Indeed, Blackburn looked downright comfortable for much of the opening spell, holding their hosts at arms length (partially thanks to some appalling finishing on the part of Edin Dzeko) fairly easily. Before Negredo’s first goal, we had all of two shots on target, and neither of them were particularly threatening.

City have been in lethal form of late, having won all but two of their games since early November. Though manager Manuel Pellegrini will no doubt rotate his squad, they should still have enough to beat a Blackburn side which is currently down in eighth place in the Championship.

Manchester City injuries and suspensions

Four minutes later, Chicharito made up for his earlier error by tying up the game. Alexander Buttner provided the setup, whipping a perfect cross into the six-yard box for Chicharito to tap into the back of the net.

United and Swansea looked destined for a draw until the 80th minute, when a bad tackle by substitute Fabio da Silva changed the game. He looked like he expected to see yellow after a hard and high challenge on Jose Cañas, but he was handed a straight red card, forcing United to play shorthanded.

The game got off to a rather sluggish start, with Chelsea enjoying a lot of the ball but not making much progress against a diligent and hardworking Derby County. With the Blues mostly restricted to half-chances, the best opportunity of the game at that point fell to the visitors, as Craig Forsyth’s drilled cross was inches away from being turned in by a lunging Jamie Ward.

After the second half began, the game was still looking relatively open, but Chelsea found their breakthrough via a surprising source. It was John Obi Mikel with the goal, the Nigerian bagging only his fourth goal for the club after getting on the end of Willian’s delivery to put the Blues in front.

West Ham lost 5-0 to Championship side Nottingham Forest in Sunday’s early FA Cup kickoff. They were so bad, they drove this poor young fan to tears:

Be ashamed, Sam Allardyce. Be ashamed.

Billy Davies’ men may be in the division below, but they looked twice the side of the Hammers on the day as they eased to a well-deserved 4-0 win.

As the game drew towards a close, Paterson completed his comeback with some fine work to create some space for himself before lashing home past the hapless Adrian, and the 4-0 scoreline could not be said to be an unfair reflection of the game.

Fellow top-flight side Swansea visit Old Trafford for this one, with Michael Laudrup’s team coming in off the back of a recent rocky run of form. The Jacks haven’t won in their last six in the league, and will be hoping they can find some success away from the pressures of the Premier League spotlight.

Manchester United injuries and suspensions

There is history between these two clubs in the FA Cup, though it’s been awhile since they played one another. The last meeting in this competition came in 1988 when the Blues won a third round match-up 3-1. Derby has won the cup once while Chelsea has seven wins, the last coming in 2012.

Derby County injuries and suspensions

Nottingham Forest may be in the division below West Ham, but the two sides’ contrasting form means it’s the Championship side who head into this third round FA Cup tie as favourites. Forest are currently sitting in a playoff position, and once again are in the hunt to win promotion to the top flight.

Nottingham Forest injuries and suspensions

Leeds, a Championship side and historically one of the biggest in England, lost 2-0 to League Two side Rochdale in the FA Cup on Saturday. The underdogs weren’t lucky at all -- they dominated the game throughout and their fans brought out the ‘OLE!“s at the end of the game as their team knocked the ball around like Barcelona. The traveling supporters expressed their displeasure and asked a question that everyone would like answered.

Tottenham’s 4-4-2 is partly to blame for tonight’s defeat, but it’s very simplistic to lay the blame solely at the door of a formation. Spurs were away and facing a better side, so a 2-0 loss is hardly inexcusable, but there were problems with their play. It wasn’t that they were too open, but rather that the players they have seem to suffer as a result of avoidable circumstances.

In all fairness, the move to such a system has worked out better than anyone had imagined in that it hasn’t been a complete catastrophe, but it might be time for Tim Sherwood to examine whether he can play a more expansive style than his predecessor without hammering square pegs into round holes.

Walcott came close again in the 25th minute, getting free behind the Spurs defense thanks to a lovely quick pass from Cazorla. Lloris was on top of things, though, blocking the Arsenal winger’s low shot away for a corner.

A goal seemed inevitable for the Gunners as the half progressed and it arrived in the 31st minute.

What’s the score, Theo?

He did this in front of the away support at the Emirates. They were less than thrilled.

Sheffield United and Rochdale were the big winners during Saturday’s massive block of FA Cup games, pulling off the third round’s two biggest upsets. The Blades, now down in League One, pulled off a stunning win at Villa Park against a Villa side that featured no true youth or reserve players. League Two side Rochdale’s win against Leeds was equally impressive, given that they were the better side from start to finish in their 2-0 victory.

The two other big upsets came from Coventry City, who beat Barnsley away, and Stevenage, who downed Doncaster away with a stoppage time goal from Darius Charles. Southend added their name to the list of sides pulling off upset wins with a 4-1 drubbing of Millwall in a game that was delayed by a floodlight failure.

This banner about Newcastle not having been to Wembley since 1999 is kind of funny with no context.

But it’s really funny when you realize that Newcastle played at Wembley in 2000, in an FA Cup semifinal against Chelsea.

Southend lead Millwall at halftime, but they’ll probably need to figure out how to get the lights working to finish the game at Roots Hall. They’ve gone out, but thankfully, Southend fans have a solution.

Cell phone floodlights!

AFC Bournemouth and Burton Albion were set to meet in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday, but neither advanced to the fourth round. Instead, the match was postponed when the pitch turned to mud and rain pulled an upset to come away the winner.

Ah, the romance of the FA Cup.

As the half wore on, City came into the game more and more and had a penalty shot turned down when Negredo went tumbling under Tommy Spurr’s challenge, but the referee waved play on. It proved to make little difference as the Spaniard opened the scoring just afterwards and right before halftime, collecting Edin Dzeko’s flick from a corner and converting from close range.

After a fine start, the goal frustrated the hosts, but ten minutes into the second half, Blackburn found an equaliser. Rudy Gestede’s header from a corner was dropped by Pantilimon, allowing Scott Dann to turn the ball home from close range and put the hosts right back into the game.

Blackburn Rovers injuries and suspensions

Out: None. In doubt: None.

Spurs defeated Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday for the second straight season. Despite missing several key starters to injury, Tim Sherwood’s side should be full of confidence going into this match.

The last time these two teams played in the FA Cup was in 2001 semi-final where Arsenal were victorious 2-1.

The North London Derby is always a spirited affair and while it remains to be seen what type of lineups the two head coaches will out out for the match, it still should be fun for spectators..at least the neutrals.

While that match between Arsenal and Spurs will likely dominate the headlines, there are plenty of other games on the slate and some opportunities for lower division clubs to pull off one of those classic ‘cupsets’ we love so much.