Arsenal were the shock casualty from this past Sunday’s FA Cup third- round encounter as the Gunners were beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest, while other Premier League sides Liverpool, Spurs and West Ham eased into the fourth round.
Nottingham Forest 1-0 Arsenal
Nottingham Forest dumped 14-time winners Arsenal out of the FA Cup on Sunday after Tottenham and Liverpool both survived third-round scares against lower-league opposition.
Championship side Forest and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal were deadlocked at half time in the late kick-off, with neither side able to break through.
But Lewis Grabban gave the home side the lead in the 83rd minute, converting Ryan Yates’ cross from close range, and they held on to win 1-0, setting up a tie with holders Leicester.
The result means Arsenal have been eliminated in the third round of the cup for only the second time across the past 26 seasons, with the other instance also coming away to Forest in 2018.
Liverpool 4-1 Shrewsberry
Seventeen-year-old Kaide Gordon became Liverpool’s youngest FA Cup goalscorer to set Jurgen Klopp’s side on the way to a comfortable 4-1 third-round victory at home to Shrewsbury.
The League One visitors had threatened an upset when, having had just 15% possession, they took a 27th-minute lead through Daniel Udoh.
However, Gordon, who at 17 years and 96 days also became the club’s second-youngest all-time scorer after Ben Woodburn, soon restored order.
Fabinho’s penalty put them in front just before half time and substitute Roberto Firmino’s backheel and another added-time Fabinho strike sealed their progress.
Tottenham 3-1 Morecambe
Tottenham needed three goals in the final 16 minutes to avoid an FA Cup upset against Morecambe as they came from behind to win 3-1 on an afternoon when record signing Tanguy Ndombele was booed off by the home crowd.
Anthony O’Connor’s first-half goal had the League One side – 59 places below their hosts on the football ladder – dreaming of the most famous result in their history, but a late blitz spared Spurs blushes.
After Ndombele, who asked to leave the club last summer, angered the home fans by taking an age to leave the field when being substituted – surely a terminal act in the Frenchman’s underwhelming stay in north London – quickfire goals from Harry Winks, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane sent Antonio Conte’s side through to round four.
But Conte will have had his assertions that the majority of his squad are not good enough to compete for the major honours confirmed in a sub-standard display and Ndombele might not be the only one considered to be at the end of the road.
Morecambe, whose manager Stephen Robinson was absent due to a positive coronavirus test, put up a spirited display and can take heart in how their Premier League hosts struggled to get past them.
West Ham 2-0 Leeds
Manuel Lanzini and Jarrod Bowen piled more FA Cup misery on Leeds as West Ham marched into the fourth round.
Lanzini’s first-half goal and Bowen’s late strike secured a 2-0 win for David Moyes’ side and condemned Leeds to a ninth third-round defeat in the last 12 seasons.
It is now five years since the Whites have won an FA Cup match, and they rarely looked like bucking that sorry trend in a one-sided London Stadium encounter.
Wolves 3-0 Sheffield United
Daniel Podence bagged a brace and Nelson Semedo was also on the scoresheet as Wolves breezed into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 3-0 win over Sheffield United at Molineux.
Wolves were given a couple of reprieves following some uncharacteristic disjointed defending early on, but Podence opened the scoring inside the first quarter of an hour and, from there, the hosts hardly looked back.
They had to wait until the 72nd minute for Semedo to double their lead before Podence grabbed his second soon after, the forward’s first goals since scoring in the Carabao Cup defeat by Tottenham on 22 September.
Billy Sharp thought he had equalised before half time but the goal was chalked off for a high foot as the Blades endured an unhappy return to the ground where their relegation from the Premier League last season was confirmed.
In other results:
Stoke 2-0 Leyton Orient
Charlton 0-1 Norwich City
Cardiff 2-1 Preston
Luton Town 4-0 Harrogate Town
