THE ONES TO WATCH
Top teams enter the FA Cup fray for third round proper
PREMIER League teams will be in action this weekend and on Monday for the third round proper of the FA Cup. Some top-flight clubs will be eliminated at the first hurdle due to a number of allPremier League clashes.
The fixtures include in-form Manchester United against struggling Everton, which was due to kick off at 10pm TRNC time yesterday, after Cyprus Today went to print.
Today sees last year’s FA Cup winners Liverpool face a Wolves team who have only lost twice since former Spain and Real Madrid boss Julen Lopetegui took charge, against United and Premier League leaders Arsenal.
While Liverpool have won 11 of their last 13 matches against Wolves in all competitions, the two matches that Wolves won were both in the FA Cup, in the 201617 and 2018-19 seasons. Liverpool have not beaten Wolves in the FA Cup since 1952. They have progressed from 10 of their last 11 FA Cup third round ties, losing the other to Wolves.
Coventry City, who won the FA Cup in 1987, face a Phil Parkinson-led Wrexham who have been rejuvenated as a club since the takeover of Hollywood actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, with the Welsh side
two points from top spot in the National League with a game in hand. The match will be the first ever FA Cup meeting between the two sides. Coventry have won six of their last seven FA Cup ties against non-league opposition, while Wrexham have lost five of their last six FA Cup matches against teams from the top two tiers of English football.
The pick of tomorrow’s games will see English champions Manchester
City host Chelsea, with only four of the last 16 FA Cup finals not featuring one of the two teams.
Chelsea will be desperate to win and go on to reach the final and end their run of FA Cup final defeats, with the Blues losing at Wembley in the last three seasons. Meanwhile City will be hoping to progress and aim to lift the trophy for the first time in four years.
Wrexham beating Arsenal in 1992, the last time the Gunners lost to a team outside the top two divisions in the FA Cup
The game will be the eighth FA Cup encounter between the two teams. City have won four of those ties while Chelsea have won three, including the last two matches.
However Chelsea have lost five of their six away matches against Manchester City in all competitions, and City have already knocked the Blues out of the League Cup this season, winning 2-0 in November.
If Chelsea lose, it will be the first time since the late 1990s that they have not progressed from the FA Cup third round.
City manager Pep Guardiola has never been eliminated at the earliest stage of a domestic cup competition in his managerial career.
The match will be the second between the two sides in the space of four days after City beat Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Thursday.
On Monday Oxford United, currently in 14th place in League One, will be looking to pull off a giant-killing act as they play at home to Arsenal.
This will be the first meeting between the two clubs since they met in the third round of the FA Cup in the 2002-03 season, a game that Arsenal won 2-0, with Dennis Bergkamp scoring his 100th goal for the club. The Gunners went on to win the FA Cup that season.
Oxford have failed to score in any of their last five matches against Arsenal in all competitions and have only progressed once from their last eight FA Cup games against Premier League teams.
In contrast Arsenal have only been knocked out in two of their last 26 FA Cup third round ties, both times against Nottingham Forest, while the last team from outside the top two divisions to beat Arsenal in the FA Cup were then-Fourth Division Wrexham, who beat the Gunners 2-1 in the third round of the 1991-92 season.