FA Cup fourth round – Five talking points as more big boys are sent packing | OneFootball

The FA Cup fourth round brought with it some pulsating fixtures, a couple of massive upsets and some more that might have been.

Here are the major talking points from the weekend, starting with the shock of the round.

Plymouth Argyle overcome Liverpool in round-four shocker

Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle scripted the result of the round, beating Premier League leaders Liverpool 1-0 at Home Park.

Ryan Hardie scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot eight minutes into the second half, as the Argyle backline remained resolute against a lacklustre Liverpool outfit.

Arne Slot’s decision to leave out Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and other key players backfired.

However, with Harvey Elliott, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Federico Chiesa on the pitch, the Reds had enough to beat the second-tier side.

They piled forward late in the game, but Plymouth stood firm to secure one of the biggest victories in their history.

Liverpool’s hopes of winning the quadruple are over, while Argyle can look forward to finding out who they face in the fifth round.

The two Manchester clubs come from behind to scrape through

Both Manchester City and Manchester United have been in less-than-impressive form over the past few months, and both avoided almighty scares in round four

City relied on two second-half substitutes to score and complete a nervy turnaround at Leyton Orien.

Orient took the lead in the 15th minute when Tottenham Hotspur loanee Jamie Donley attempted an audacious lob from around 40 yards out.

The ball hit the crossbar and came back off goalkeeper Stefan Ortega for a bizarre opener. However, goals by Abdukodir Khusanov and Kevin de Bruyne sent City through.

United endured a similar course of events in their home tie against Leicester City on Friday night, falling behind to Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s first-half goal.

Joshua Zirkzee and Harry Maguire scored twice after the break to put United into the fifth round, but it was a largely unconvincing performance.

Newcastle dig deep to beat in-form Birmingham City

League One leaders Birmingham City came into their game against Newcastle United in stunning form.

They were unbeaten since late November and showed their intent by taking the lead inside the first minute courtesy of Ethan Laird’s volley.

Goals by Joe Willock and Callum Wilson put Newcastle 2-1 ahead, but Japanese midfielder Tomoki Iwata smashed in an absolute howitzer to level the scoreline.

The second half was evenly matched, but Newcastle finally delivered the decisive blow eight minutes from time.

Following some good work on the right from Tino Livramento and Sean Longstaff, Willock sealed the deal for the Magpies.

Birmingham can be proud of their performance and can now focus their efforts on winning promotion back to the Championship.

Chelsea crash out at Brighton

Brighton & Hove Albion were hammered 7-0 by Nottingham Forest in the Premier League last weekend.

However, they responded perfectly by dumping Chelsea out of the FA Cup on Saturday.

Enzo Maresca’s side once again scored first but failed to win. They took the lead when Bart Verbruggen deflected Cole Palmer’s cross into his net in the fifth minute.

It only took the hosts seven minutes to respond when Joel Veltman’s cross was adroitly headed home by Georginio Rutter.

Kaoru Mitoma’s expert control and deft finish after 57 minutes settled the tie.

Chelsea are now left with the Europa Conference League as their only route to silverware, and they will need to play better than this to get their hands on the trophy.

Burnley send Southampton packing

Burnley piled further misery on an already dismal season for Southampton, winning 1-0 at St Mary’s to advance to round five.

Scott Parker’s men, who have only conceded nine goals in 31 games in the Championship, were once again solid at the back.

Parker is rebuilding his managerial reputation at Turf Moor and this result was thoroughly deserved.

They bagged the winner 13 minutes from time through Sporting CP loanee Marcus Edwards.

Edwards could prove to be a shrewd signing for Burnley after returning to English football for the first time in seven years.

He previously worked with Parker at the Tottenham Hotspur academy, and the manager believes he can bring the best out in him.