The Biggest Moments from the FA Cup this Week
Wrexham, Macclesfield and Mansfield bring the Magic of the Cup
With a late equaliser from Callum Hudson-Odoi in the 89th minute, many Wrexham fans probably felt their team was about to face the wrong end of the result after such a strong first half and leading 3-1 with less than fifteen minutes in normal time remaining. However, Forest’s refreshed side from after the break were undone by an excellent and gritty defensive performance in extra time followed by a dramatic win on penalties thanks to Arthur Okonkwo’s heroics in net.
As Wrexham rejoiced, Forest left the Racecourse Ground embarrassed and disconnected as Sean Dyche took aim at his players’ for their first half display describing it as “unacceptable to the badge” and called out his fringe players for complaining about playing time. He stated, “the facts of the matter are we’ve got to make changes. They showed their hand and won’t be knocking on my door saying, ‘why aren’t I playing?’ again, that’s for sure, that first-half group.”
Could this be the first sign of a growing rift between the squad and the manager finally being made public, or is it a passionate outburst of frustration from a manager after their fifth defeat in the last six games?
Macclesfield emerged as this round’s plucky heroes after triumphing over the current FA Cup holders, Crystal Palace. John Rooney’s side had managed to keep the Premier League side’s fairly strong attack (featuring the recently acquired Brennan Johnson and summer signing Yeremy Pino) quiet for nearly an entire 90 minutes before Pino’s free kick goal in the dying moments of the game.
Palace’s poor goal scoring form continues after failing to register an open play goal against the non-league outfit, having only achieved more than one goal in a game three times since the beginning of December; two of those were in the UEFA Conference League against KuPS and Irish club Shelbourne. Oliver Glasner’s side will need to improve their offensive side of the game quickly before they fall further adrift from their loftier ambitions of Europe.
Finally, Mansfield Town, another underdog who brought the magic of the cup in incredible style by stunning Wilder’s Sheffield United with a 4-1 lead going into the final half an hour of regular time. The League One side managed to stun the Blades thanks to two goals from former Sheffield United midfielder Louis Reed to put them a goal ahead going into the break.
After a series of changes in the second half, Mansfield’s fairytale story appeared to be in jeopardy following a Moriah-Welsh own goal, however, in spite of Bamford’s attacking efforts, Nigel Clough’s side were able to hold on and earn a well-deserved victory to head into the fourth round.
All Premier League Affairs Manage to Deliver
This round threw up a series of Premier League only FA Cup action for this early round. Sunderland visited Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, Newcastle United hosted Bournemouth, Aston Villa made the trip to London to face off against a struggling Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United hosted Brighton and Hove Albion at Old Trafford to most likely mark Darren Fletcher’s final game as United’s interim manager.
Sunderland managed to see off an uninspiring Everton after a rather unfortunate late penalty from Garner helped bring the hosts level. Regis Le Bris’ side were by far the superior across the entire match; only let down by a soft challenge on Aznou to concede a late equaliser in normal time. Extra time failed to provide a victor and allowed a new cup hero to emerge as the tale of the tie led to a penalty shoot-out. Sunderland’s Roefs proved to be far too much for Everton’s penalty takers with three impressive saves denying Everton from scoring a single penalty in the shoot-out.
Everton will look for an improvement in form when returning to the Premier League after such an inconsistent set of results; meanwhile, Sunderland will continue to enjoy a surprisingly impressive season going into 2026.
St. James’ Park bore witness to an extraordinary FA Cup tie with two sides showing clear attacking intent, albeit after the half way mark. A dreary first half appeared to promise an uninspired set of performances from both sides but the second half brought out another FA Cup classic. After opening the scoring early into the second half, thanks to Harvey Barnes, Newcastle were stunned by two goals within quick succession after the hour mark by Iraola’s side. However, Bournemouth’s work was undone by an Anthony Gordon penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time to take the game into a further 30 minutes. Extra time continued the trend of dramatic goals with Harvey Barnes’ 118th minute presumed winner being almost instantly cancelled out by Tavernier to take us into the grand finale: penalties.
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle emerged victorious after long battle of penalty kicks to see off Iraola’s side and to progress into the fourth round. Both teams can certainly be proud of their respective performances after such an incredible spectacle of talent.
Pressure continues to pile on Thomas Frank after a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. After a thoroughly unimpressive first half (a common theme with Frank’s side) causing them to go 2-0 to Emery’s Villa going into the break, Tottenham emerged as a very different side after the break. In spite of a lack of substitutions, Frank seemingly inspired his men to chase the game in the second half and was quickly rewarded in the 54th minute with a goal from Odobert, however, it proved to be too little too late as Villa held on to earn a well-deserved 2-1 away victory to progress into the next round.
A growing rift between the manager and the fans was fully on show at the half time whistle with Frank and his men trudging off to a chorus of boos and jeers from the home support. Frank’s uninspired tactics and his antics away from the pitch (describing some sections of the fanbase as not real fans and the poor optics of being pictured drinking from an Arsenal branded espresso cup) have failed to endear him to Tottenham’s faithful and it would be incredibly surprising to find Thomas Frank in the dugout by the end of the month unless he makes considerable changes to his style of play and starts to bring in much better results.
Last of the all Premier League ties (but certainly not the least) was Manchester United versus Brighton and Hove Albion at Old Trafford. Darren Fletcher’s role as interim manager will likely be coming to an end after this tie with former Manchester United midfielder, Michael Carrick, appearing as the favourite for the Manchester United hot-seat. Fletcher’s short and disappointing time as interim manager was perfectly summed up with a very poor display against Hurzeler’s men resulting in a 2-1 home defeat and, perhaps a more significant display of United’s season’s woes, leading to United facing the shortest season in the club’s history since the 1914-15 season.
Brighton, on the other hand, provided their fans with a confident and complete performance at Old Trafford featuring goals from Gruda and, former United forward, Danny Welbeck. Brighton will march on to the fourth round of the FA Cup as part of a good season for the club looking to reach European football.
Manchester City Showcase Their Winning Mentality and Respect for the Cup
Pep Guardiola and Manchester City surprised many with their strong team selection to face League One strugglers Exeter City. Guardiola put out a team with a clear intent to progress into the next round featuring Premier League top goalscorer Erling Haaland, 2024 Balon D’or winner Rodri, an in-form Cherki and new signing Semenyo. As expected the incredibly strong first eleven, with strong half-time reinforcements of Doku, O’Reilly and Bernardo Silva, ended up dominating Exeter as evidenced by the whopping 10-1 scoreline.
Caldwell’s Exeter were simply no match for the quality on display by City from the first to last minute and many would not have expected much more from the League One club facing a Premier League side showcasing their comparable strength. It is clear that this cup exit will not be indicative of the remainder of Exeter’s season but their brief moments of magic: such as George Birch’s goal in the 90th minute or Liam Oakes’ headed attempt within the first five minutes, which could have provided a surprise opening goal to the game, should give Caldwell and his side a small yet significant boost of confidence going into the rest of the season.
Grimsby Challenged by Non-League Weston-Super-Mare at Home
League Two Grimsby came head-to-head with National League South side, Weston-super-Mare in a match that almost mirrored Grimsby’s victory over Manchester United earlier in the season. This time Grimsby had to prove themselves as the favourites against a non-league team that were looking to progress into the fourth round.
Both sides displayed attacking intent throughout the game; with a five goal thriller to match up to the other exciting fixtures this round has thrown up. Vernam opened the scoring for Grimsby shortly before half time but Weston-super-Mare’s Coulson drew the non-league side level just after the break. Grimsby led again in the second half before their lead was quickly evaporated by a goal from the Weston-super-Mare centre forward, Britton. However, the gap of quality in depth proved to be Scott Rogers’ side’s undoing as substitute Green provided Grimsby with a late winner to progress into the next round.
The Tale of Two London Derbies: Rosenior’s Tremendous Start Versus Nuno’s Struggles
London played host to two derbies during this round of the FA Cup Newly-appointed Liam Rosenior visiting the Valley for his first game in charge of Chelsea after Enzo Maresca’s departure earlier this month, and an under-pressure Nuno Espirito Santo hosted Queens Park Rangers at the London Stadium.
Rosenior’s start to life as Chelsea manager received a massive boost with a 5-1 away victory over Nathan Jones’ Charlton Athletic alongside a number of positive signs from players on the fringes of Maresca’s squad selection, including Hato, Buonanotte and Marc Guiu, who all appeared to be trying to give Rosenior a few selection headaches going into the first leg of the League Cup semi-final against Arsenal on Wednesday.
In comparison Nuno left the London Stadium with headaches for the very wrong reasons. Despite managing a narrow 2-1 victory over QPR in extra time, West Ham United provided very little going forward for large parts of the game and relied on Summerville’s individual brilliance to overcome the mid-table Championship side.
This performance would have done very little to convince the West Ham ownership of Nuno’s ability to save their season and to survive the drop from the Premier League without significant investment in the January window. Unless major changes are made going into the second half of the season, West Ham United might as well be in receipt of those parachute payments already.