Wolves shock Liverpool in FA Cup
LIVERPOOL were knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship club Wolves as Tottenham survived a potential giantkilling of their own by twice coming from behind in a 4-3 win over fourth-tier Wycombe Wanderers.
Elsewhere, Premier League giants Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City all made it comfortably through to the last 16.
Seven-time FA Cup winners Liverpool lost 2-1 at home to second-tier Wolves as the Merseysiders’ season went from bad to worse.
Defeat meant Liverpool, 10 points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea – their next opponents at Anfield on Tuesday – had been knocked out of two cup competitions in four days following their 2-0 aggregate loss to Southampton in Wednesday’s League Cup semifinal.
Wolves were ahead in under a minute, Richard Stearman heading in a free-kick and, four minutes before half-time, Andreas Weimann finished an excellent counterattack by the Midlands club.
But, having rarely threatened, a much-changed Liverpool pulled a goal back when Divock Origi scored from close range in the 86th minute following a corner.
That, however, was good as it got for Liverpool, who have now won just one of their last eight matches in all competitions.
“We were very bad,” Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp told BT Sport. “We started badly and it didn’t really get better.”
For Wolves, victory gave them a second Premier League scalp in this season’s FA Cup after they beat Stoke City in the third round and manager Paul Lambert said: “We’ll enjoy the ride. We might get dismantled in the next game but the last two [FA Cup] games have been unbelievable.”
Spurs survive upset
Wycombe threatened an even bigger upset as they surged into a 2-0 lead away to eight-times FA Cup winners Spurs thanks to two first-half goals from captain Paul Hayes only for Son Heung-min, who scored twice, to grab the winning goal seven minutes into stoppage-time.
Hayes fired Wycombe into a 23rdminute lead with a fine volley. And in the 36th minute, he made it 2-0 from the penalty spot following Cameron Carter-Vickers’s foul on Sam Wood.
But Son scored on the hour and four minutes later the north London side were level through a Vincent Janssen penalty after he was brought down in the box.
Wycombe, however, regained the lead though Gary Thompson’s 83rdminute header only, with two minutes of normal time left, for England midfielder Alli, on as a substitute, to make it 3-3.
Wycombe were then cruelly denied even a replay when South Korea forward Son scored with a deflected shot seconds before the final whistle.
“Full credit to Wycombe, they were heroes,” relieved Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino told the BBC.
Chelsea kept their double hopes alive with a comfortable 4-0 fourthround win at home to fellow west London club Brentford.
Wilian gave Chelsea a 14th-minute lead wit h a free-k ick into t he top corner.
Minutes later, Chelsea were 2-0 up through Pedro. Branislav Ivanovic made it 3-0 before Michy Batshuayi’s penalty nine minutes from time completed the scoring.
Manchester City won an all-Premier League tie against Crystal Palace, last season’s losing finalists, 3-0 courtesy of goals from Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Yaya Toure.
England forward TheoWalcott scored a hat-trick against his former club as Arsenal won 5-0 away to Southampton in Saturday’s late kick-off.
First-half goals from Danny Welbeck, who scored twice in his first start since a knee injury in May, and Walcott put Arsenal 3-0 up.
Walcott completed his treble after the break, with the Gunners untroubled as manager ArseneWenger served the first of a four-game touchline ban for misconduct.
“I have spent so much time on the bench that physically it is difficult to be far away, but the most important thing is Arsenal to win,” said Wenger.
Saints manager Claude Puel, once a protege of fellow Frenchman Wenger, made 10 changes to the side that beat Liverpool but insisted he had little choice.
“I am responsible for t he defeat,” he said. “We had nine players not available and I had to protect some players.”
In other FA Cup ties, Premier League Burnley and Middlesbrough triumphed following 2-0 and 1-0 wins over lower league Bristol City and Accrington respectively.
Meanwhile non-league Lincoln stunned Championship leaders Brighton 3-1 and third-tier Oxford upset second-tier Newcastle 3-0 as Blackburn defeated Blackpool 2-0 and Huddersfield thrashed Rochdale 4-0.
FA Cup holders United were due to play Wigan at home last night, while non-league Sutton United were to face Championship club Leeds.