This year’s FA Cup third round may not have been full of surprises, but that only raises the stakes for the next batch of games.
Liverpool and Chelsea both swept away League Two foeswhile Manchester City scored eight goals without reply at home to Salford City. Tottenham Hotspur eventually overcame non-league Tamworth with three goals in extra time after a nervous, goalless first 90 minutes.
However, top notch Brentford were knocked down by Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle, who have taken on Arne Slot’s Premier League leaders Liverpool in the fourth round.
Arsenal and Manchester United came through a glamorous third-round tie, with the Red Devils winning on penalties despite playing with ten men for more than an hour to draw against Leicester City in the month comes
Here’s everything you need to know about a fourth round that could be a little more explosive.
Fans of England’s oldest cup competition will have to wait until February for its next installment. The 16 games of the fourth round will be distributed over the weekend of Saturday, February 8.
As was the case in the third round, ties may be scheduled from that Thursday to Monday. As the concept of replays has been banished to the realm of away goals and the back pass rule, all ties must be concluded on the day they began.
VAR cannot win. When the controversial refereeing system is in place, hours and hours are wasted debating the merits of the decisions made by those at Stockley Park. In the event that the technology is not deployed, as it were the case of the third round of the cup: the powers that be are criticized for their absence.
However, FA Cup referees will not be able to call on VAR support for the fourth round. In what smacks of a completely arbitrary decision, video assistance will not be used until the fifth round of the cup.
