Footballing Weekly: With underdog FA Cup wins getting rarer, Arsenal v Liverpool offers intrigue in 3rd round
One fewer English giant in the later stages could mean the road to Wembley may get clearer for the less-fancied clubs
SINGAPORE — The world's oldest football competition will kick into high gear this weekend, when the top English Premier League clubs enter the FA Cup in the third round. And there will be another round of hyping up the "magic" of the knock-out tournament, where any minnow team could have their day and create shock results that people will talk about in the years to come.
But do such stunning upsets actually happen anymore in the FA Cup? How long has it been since a lower-league team defied the odds to actually claim the Cup and revive all the romantic notions of the triumphant underdogs?
The answer: a staggering 44 years ago, when West Ham United - then in the Second Division - somehow defeated Arsenal 1-0 among the white towers of the old Wembley Stadium. A really distant memory even among Hammers fans.
For the last time a lower-league side reached the FA Cup final, one has to go back 14 years to 2008, when Championship side Cardiff City were narrowly beaten 0-1 by Portsmouth - a club that has since fallen all the way down to League Two and is now a division below the Welsh club.
That was also the last FA Cup final contested by two of the less fancied sides in the competition. In fact, in the 24 years since the turn of the century, there were only three instances in which the Cup had not been won by either Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea: Portsmouth (2008), Wigan Athletic (2013) and Leicester City (2021).
And so here's the reality of the traditional FA Cup competition: there may be the odd giant-killing act in the earlier rounds, but the teams in the top echelon of the EPL are far too strong to fall collectively to the underdogs. Usually one of the title-challenging clubs will prevail.
Top clubs clash in third round
Which makes this weekend's top FA Cup third-round match so intriguing: EPL leaders Liverpool travelling to the Emirates Stadium to take on the team they overtook in the league last week - Arsenal.
The mouth-watering clash comes just after they battled to a 1-1 draw at Anfield in the league on 23 December, and with the EPL title race so tight this season, the FA Cup could offer both sides a shot at another major trophy.
Put it this way: it is unlikely either side would trot out their reserve teams to conserve their energies for the league challenge. They would want to get the win - not only to advance in the FA Cup, but also to deal a psychological blow to their opponents. There is also the added pressure of wanting to avoid a draw at full-time - and dealing with a replay and the subsequent fixture pile-up.
Top-team clashes in the early rounds of the FA Cup are always intriguing. Not only do the top sides need to hit the ground running, but other lower-league teams will also be watching with interest. It will be one fewer English giant in the subsequent rounds, and who knows, the road could open up to an unlikely underdog triumph.
Follow the new EPL season with all segments of this week's "Footballing Weekly" show on YouTube. If you wish the hear the show in its entirety, visit the show's Spotify and Acast pages.
For more football news, visit our Football page on Yahoo!
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.
