Manchester United, Tottenham to play 4th-tier teams in FA Cup
Sun Online Desk
Published: 09 Jan 2018
Manchester United and Tottenham will play away at fourth-tier clubs in the fourth round of the FA Cup. United was drawn on Monday to face Yeovil in southwest England for the second time in four seasons. The 12-time cup winners won 2-0 on the 2015 trip in the third round.
Tottenham will go to south Wales to play Newport in just under three weeks.
English Premier League leader Manchester City could also be playing at a League Two side if Mansfield beats Cardiff of the second tier in a replay.
There are two guaranteed all-Premier League encounters, with Liverpool hosting West Bromwich Albion, and Southampton playing Watford.
If Chelsea beats Norwich in a replay, the Premier League champion will play Newcastle.
Nottingham Forest’s reward for eliminating holder Arsenal is an away game against fellow second-tier side Hull, which lost the 2014 final to the Gunners. Coventry, the 1987 cup winner who is in the fourth tier, will play MK Dons after ousting Premier League struggler Stoke.
Another shock in the third round saw Leicester held by Fleetwood to 0-0. The replay winner plays Fleetwood’s fellow third-tier side, Peterborough.
BRIGHTON: Brighton striker Glenn Murray benefited from the first use of video replay in competitive English soccer when he nudged the ball over the line with his knee to secure a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace in the FA Cup on Monday.
Referee Andre Marriner was seen listening to instructions in an earpiece in the 87th minute after Murray got on the end of Uwe Hunemeier’s header. Some television replays were initially unclear whether the ball brushed against Murray’s arm before falling into the net.
Neil Swarbrick, a video assistant referee, was assessing footage of the third-round game at a control room in west London as part of international trials of the new technology that will be used for match-changing incidents.
“It wasn’t my arm,” Murray said. “The VAR would have pulled me back if it was … I just needed to get something on it and luckily I did. I got my hip or my knee on it.”
Bakary Sako leveled for Palace in the 69th when he struck the ball from distance in off the post, canceling out Dale Stephens’ first-opener opener.
Murray’s winner on the south coast set up a fourth round meeting a second-tier side Middlesbrough, reports AP.
Fourth round draw:
Bournemouth/Wigan vs. Shrewsbury/West Ham
Cardiff/Mansfield vs. Manchester City
Carlisle/Sheffield Wednesday vs. Stevenage/Reading
Huddersfield vs. Birmingham
Hull vs. Nottingham Forest
Liverpool vs. West Bromwich
Middlesbrough vs. Brighton
Millwall vs. Rochdale
MK Dons vs. Coventry
Newport vs. Tottenham
Norwich/Chelsea vs. Newcastle
Notts County vs. Wolves/Swansea
Peterborough vs. Fleetwood/Leicester
Sheffield United vs. Preston
Southampton vs. Watford
Yeovil vs. Manchester United
Matches to be played over Jan. 26-29