FA Cup 3rd Round Review and 4th Round Draw

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After a stretched-out third round, which may suit the television companies but isn’t great for fans, we now know who will be playing who in the fourth round of the 2024/25 FA Cup. The Premier League and Championship big boys entered the fray on Thursday 9th January, with the ludicrous six-day long round only being completed on Tuesday 13th January when three postponed games took place. The weather meant the FA Cup was extended into an extra day but even so, five days was already at least two too many for many fans.

With no replays at all in the FA Cup this term, from the first round (proper) onwards, it also means we now know the exact make-up of the fourth-round fixtures. We’ll take a look at those shortly, but first let us take a look back at what happened over the third round “weekend” and whether we saw any classic FA Cup upsets.

Tamworth Almost Toppled Tottenham


In the end, the record books will record a 3-0 win for Spurs and a job done. However, any neutrals who watched Tamworth, of the National League, sock it to Tottenham’s stars for 90+ minutes will bemoan the lack of replays in the competition. The minnows kept the game to 0-0 after normal time but the game went to extra time and Spurs finally wore them down.

It took the Premier League outfit 101 minutes and an own goal to break the deadlock and then they punished a tiring Tamworth, who are only part-time footballers. Spurs were awful though and for most of the first 100 minutes the non-league club gave as good as they got. They deserved a replay at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and in the past 154 years of this competition, they would have had one. But not this year, and Spurs went into the hat.

Man United Sneak Past Arsenal


The biggest game of the round saw top-flight behemoths Arsenal and Manchester United clash at the Emirates. It was the proverbial game of two halves and after a stultifying first period it sprung into life. United took the lead but then had a man sent off. The Gunners equalised soon after but Ruben Amorim’s men held on and took the game to penalties. The Red Devils scored all five of theirs, with Kai Havertz’s miss meaning the Manchester side progressed.

In actual fact it was saved by stand-in United stopped Altay Bayindir, who had earlier saved a penalty from Martin Odegaard to keep United level. The Turkish keeper enjoyed a brilliant day and the Red Devils progressed and they continue their quest to defend their trophy.

Big Wins for Several Premier League Clubs


Whilst Tamworth showed that David can at least give Goliath a fright, more often than not class shows. Fulham beat Watford 4-1 on Thursday night, Man City hit Salford for eight on Saturday, Brighton won 4-0 at Norwich, Chelsea pummelled Morecambe 5-0 and there were a further trio of four-goal victories for PL clubs.

Bournemouth won 5-1 at home to West Brom, Leicester City beat QPR 6-2 in a thriller at the King Power, and Liverpool proved far too strong for Accrington Stanley in a 4-0 win at Anfield. It was an excellent round for top-flight clubs all in all, with even Ipswich, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Everton and Wolves all winning. That left West Ham as the highest-ranked side to be eliminated and they were only beaten by another Premier League club, losing 2-1 at Villa.

But There Were Upsets


The only top-tier team to exit to a side from a lower division was Brentford. Exhibit 698,456 in the “It’s a funny old game” trial is the Bees’ surprise home loss to Plymouth. Argyle were winless in 11 and without a victory on the road all season, whilst Brentford had one of the best home records in the Premier League, with seven wins from 10. So of course it was 1-0 to the away team, of course it was!

There was also an upset as League One Exeter eliminated Oxford, of the Championship, winning 3-1. Exeter are down in 15th in the third tier and whilst Oxford are struggling too, they came into the clash in good form.

Highlights of the FA Cup Fourth Round

Elland Road
Elland Road (Credit John Seb Barber via Wikipedia)

The draw for the fourth round was made after the Arsenal v Man United clash, with Martin Keown and Mark Schwarzer doing the honours. The matches will take place “across the weekend of Saturday 8 February 2025” according to the official FA site, which could well mean from Friday to Monday.

Upcoming Games

FA Cup logoThere will be 16 games and in truth Keown and Schwarzer were not really able to produce anything to get too excited about. Holders United will face Leicester City, one of a number of all-Premier League ties. The game has a fascinating subplot in that the Foxes are managed by former Red Devil Ruud van Nistelrooy, who did well as interim boss at Old Trafford prior to Amorim’s appointment.

Brighton will host Chelsea, with many in the Blues camp likely to feel at home on the south coast. That could well prove to be an exciting clash, whilst Aston Villa versus Spurs is also a decent tie as far as neutrals are concerned, and Tottenham will hope to have a few more fit players by then. They will certainly need a better performance than they managed against Tamworth.

Everton are at home against Bournemouth in another clash between two top-flight outfits but we are also guaranteed some non-Premier League involvement in the fifth round. There are three clashes that will not involve a side from the top tier of English football and of those it is the Leeds United versus Millwall tie that looks the most interesting.

This all-Championship clash will take place at Elland Road and the hosts will be big favourites. However, these two clubs do not get along, for reasons that are not entirely clear, and this one could get feisty. As for potential upsets, Coventry will fancy their chances at home against top-flight Ipswich, whilst the same can be said for Blackburn, who welcome Wolves to Ewood Park. Similarly Burnley, though playing away from home, will think they can push Southampton all the way, so there is every chance we could see plenty of second-tier involvement in the last 16 this season.