FA Cup Third Round Recap

Premier League casualties

The FA Cup is known and loved for its shocks and surprises, and with the Premier League sides entering the competition at the third round, there was potential for more. As expected, the majority of Premier League sides enjoyed victory in the third round, however, there were a few of Premier League casualties, with: Aston Villa, Brighton and Crystal Palace all suffering defeat to the hands of Championship sides.

Merseyside Derby

The most anticipated game of the round was by far the Merseyside Derby that was taking place at Anfield, with Everton looking to make amends for their embarrassing 5-2 defeat there a couple of weeks earlier. Despite Jurgen Klopp naming a young side for the tie, Liverpool emerged victorious as a second-half goal from Curtis Jones gave them a 1-0 win over their rivals and take them to the next round.

Needing a replay

90 minutes wasn’t enough to separate all of the sides as 8 of the 32 games ended as a draw. Among those games was Newcastle’s trip to League 1 side Rochdale and Newcastle look set for the victory after Miguel Almiron’s opener, but a late equaliser from Aaron Wilbraham brought Rochdale level meaning the sides would meet again at St James’ Park.
Watford looked well on their way to a place in the fourth round draw after going 3-0 up against Tranmere in the first half, but Tranmere had other ideas and produced a miraculous comeback in the second half to give them a 3-3 draw at Vicarage Road and a second chance to qualify for the next round.

Tottenham went into their game against Middlesbrough with the FA Cup being their only realistic chance for silverware this season, that chance took a blow when Ashley Fletcher put the Middlesbrough ahead 5 minutes into the second half. That lead didn’t last long as Lucas Moura brought Tottenham level 11 minutes later meaning the 2 sides would meet again in North London.

An all-Premier League tie saw Wolves host Manchester United, with Wolves beating Manchester United in the quarter-finals the previous season. Manchester United didn’t face defeat this time as the game ended as a dull 0-0 draw with Manchester United not having a single shot on target.

Find below all of the third round results:

• Bristol 1-1 Shrewsbury
• Birmingham 2-1 Blackburn
• Rotherham 2-3 Hull
• Millwall 3-0 Newport County
• Cardiff 2-2 Carlisle
• Reading 2-2 Blackpool
• Oxford 4-1 Hartlepool
• Brentford 1-0 Stoke
• Fleetwood 1-2 Portsmouth
• Charlton 0-1 West Brom
• QPR 5-1 Swansea
• Burton 2-4 Northampton
• Bristol Rovers 2-2 Coventry
• Crewe 1-3 Barnsley
• Rochdale 1-1 Newcastle
• Burnley 4-2 Peterborough
• Preston 2-4 Norwich
• Brighton 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday
• Southampton 2-0 Huddersfield
• Watford 3-3 Tranmere
• Fulham 2-1 Aston Villa
• Bournemouth 4-0 Luton
• Wolves 0-0 Manchester United
• Manchester City 4-1 Port Vale
• Leicester 2-0 Wigan
• Chelsea 2-0 Nottingham Forest
• Middlesbrough 1-1 Tottenham
• Sheffield United 2-1 Fylde
• Crystal Palace 0-1 Derby
• Liverpool 1-0 Everton
• Gillingham 0-2 West Ham
• Arsenal 1-0 Leeds

A couple of weeks later, the ties that ended as a draw needed to be settled as the third round replay took place, with Manchester United, Wolves, Tottenham and Newcastle taking part.

After their disappointing draw at Rochdale earlier in the month, Newcastle returned to St James Park in their third round replay. This time they were able to get the job done as they found themselves 4-0 up thanks to goals from: Matty Longstaff, Miguel Almiron and Joelinton as well as an own goal from Eoghan O’Connell With Jordan Williams giving the away side a consolation goal in a 4-1 win for Newcastle.

Tottenham hosted Middlesbrough in their third round replay in what was the first FA Cup game to take place at their new stadium. Tottenham got off to a perfect start as Giovani Lo Celso put them ahead within 2 minutes, with Erik Lamela doubling Tottenham’s lead 13 minutes later. George Saville got one back for Middlesbrough with 10 minutes to go but Tottenham were able to cope with some later Middlesbrough pressure to book their place in the next round.

Manchester United’s replay with Wolves was almost as dull as the first tie at Molineux, as a single goal from Juan Mata was enough to give Manchester United a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford and set them up with a tie against either Watford or Tranmere.

Postponed

As a result of the pitch not being of a good standard for the game, Tranmere’s replay with Watford was unable to take place and was subsequently postponed until the 23rd of January, 3 days before the winner will face Manchester united in the next round.
Find below all of the third round replay results:

• Coventry 3-0 Bristol Rovers
• Shrewsbury 1-0 Bristol City
• Blackpool 0-2 Reading
• Carlisle 3-4 Cardiff
• Newcastle 4-1 Rochdale
• Tottenham 2-1 Middlesbrough
• Manchester United 1-0 Wolves