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Manchester City and Arsenal headline the fourth round of the FA Cup and Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester United hope to advance
The FA Cup is known for having magical moments and very few fixtures offer more stardust than a heavyweight clash between Manchester City and Arsenal. Two teams vying for the Premier League title and two managers who know each other very well.
Manchester City vs Arsenal
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City take on Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in a tie that acts as a bit of a placement game for the two Premier League games to come in February and April between the champions and leaders.
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The most important thing for both teams is always to avoid defeat. Arsenal need to end a 19-year title drought and that has been underlined by the €50m January outlay on Leonardo Trossard and Jakob Kiwior.
The board have clearly been pleased with how Arteta has handled the team and are willing to continue to invest. Arteta, once Guardiola’s assistant, has constructed a team worthy of a five-point advantage over his former employers.
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No matter what anyone says, Guardiola remains a man driven to win and, despite the gap in the Premier League and recent criticism of his players, his team start as favourites.
Depending on whether players are rested or rotated, this is a game that could go either way but again, playing at the Etihad and possessing the deeper squad, Man City could take this one in a narrow win. 2-1 to City.
Liverpool vs Brighton
Jürgen Klopp was adamant that progress was being made following Liverpool’s drab goalless draw at home to Chelsea, but a truer test awaits the holders on their return to the Amex Stadium. Brighton ripped through Liverpool in the Premier League a fortnight ago, when Klopp described his team’s 3-0 defeat as one of the worst displays of his managerial career.
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Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Joël Matip and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were all withdrawn in a quadruple substitution midway through the second half against Roberto De Zerbi’s side. None have started in the two matches since.
Eighteen-year-old Stefan Bajcetic has seized his chance in central midfield, injecting an energy and bite that was previously lacking, while Ibrahima Konaté and Joe Gomez have benefited from the improvement in front of them.
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Both managers should go strong with no midweek fixtures to concern them. Klopp must hope De Zerbi finds Liverpool unrecognisable from the side his team recently demolished. Predicting a bounce back narrow victory for Liverpool. 2-1
Manchester United vs Reading
Manchester United’s commanding 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final clash on Wednesday moved the Red Devils one step closer to ending their six-year silverware drought.
After the disappointment of falling 11 points behind the pace in the league last weekend when they lost at leaders Arsenal, manager Erik ten Hag was pleased with the response at Forest, stating they ‘have to do everything to bring a trophy in’.
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Attention now turns to the FA Cup. The Red Devils have lifted the iconic trophy 12 times in their history - second only to Arsenal’s 14.
Progress in this year’s competition depends on seeing off lower-league side Reading, something they’ve managed twice in the last six years at Old Trafford. Confidence of achieving that feat again is bound to be high, with United winning each of their last ten home games, conceding just four goals along the way.
United were eliminated at this stage last season by a Championship side however, something which should give the Royals hope of pulling off an upset.
Reading manager Paul Ince returns to his former stomping ground looking to restore some of the early-season positivity, as they’ve now failed to win any of their last four Championship games.
FA Cup fourth-round schedule in full
Manchester City vs Arsenal - Friday, 9pm
Accrington vs Leeds - Saturday, 1.30pm
Walsall vs Leicester - Saturday, 1.30pm
Blackburn vs Birmingham - Saturday, 4pm
Bristol City vs West Brom - Saturday, 4pm
Fulham vs Sunderland - Saturday, 3pm
Ipswich vs Burnley - Saturday, 4pm
Luton vs Grimsby - Saturday, 4pm
Sheffield Wednesday vs Fleetwood - Saturday, 4pm
Southampton vs Blackpool - Saturday, 4pm
Preston vs Tottenham - Saturday, 6pm
Manchester United vs Reading - Saturday, 9pm
Brighton vs Liverpool - Sunday, 2.30pm
Stoke vs Stevenage - Sunday, 3pm
Wrexham vs Sheffield United - Sunday, 4.30pm
Derby vs West Ham - Monday, 8.45pm
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