New Delhi: The FA Cup fourth round has started with the first game starting right before the weekend where Manchester United managed to go to the next stage owing to a late goal from the Red Devils while their city rivals Manchester City were victorious after a strong second half against Leyton Orient.
Saturday continued with six FA Cup games taking place at the same time. Coventry clashed with Premier League side relegation side facing side Ipswich Town. Preston and Wycombe met in the FA Cup clash with Stoke City and Cardiff City playing a close game as well. Premier League’s bottom-most team, Southampton faced Burnley. The top-flight teams facing each other were Everton and Bournemouth, with Fulham clashing with Wigan Athletic.
Coventry City 1-4 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town started promisingly, with George Hirst scoring through a penalty in the second minute of the game. The lead was cancelled six minutes later when Joel Laribeaudiere headed from a cross by Jack Rudoni after a corner was taken. However, before the half-an-hour mark, Jack Clarke put his side in the lead with a right-footed shot taken from the side of the box with Hirst making his assist. In the 37th minute, Jack Clarke’s strike from Nathan Broadhead ensured the visitors went on a 3-1 lead.
Returning from the break, it was almost certain that Ipswich Town had booked a spot in the FA Cup’s fifth round, having failed to reach the stage since 2007. While Coventry may have hoped for a miracle, Jaden Philogene-Bidace’s shot, six-yard away from the box with Clarke making the assist, meant the Tractors Boys were closer to winning the title for the first time in 47 years.
Stoke City 3-3 Cardiff City
Cardiff City got underway early against Stoke City when Rubin Colwill shot from outside the box into the right corner, with Anwar El-Ghazi making a brilliant assist during the quick pace of the game. Yousef Salech doubled the effort when he put a Joel Bagan assist from the centre of the box. Lewis Koumas opened the scoring for the hosts after Lewis Koumas was able to convert a through ball from Wouter Burger.
Koumas and Stoke City returned from the break, determined to keep themselves breathing down the visitors’ neck as Wales player scored a minute into the second half with a brilliant assist from Josh Wilson-Esbrand. In the 57th minute, Stoke earned a penalty which Lewis Baker easily converted to put his side in the lead. It was Colwil who equalized in the 68th minute. With both sides unable to break through, the game went into penalties after extra time, where ultimately Cardiff won 4-2.
Everton 0-2 Bournemouth
A superb result 🔥 pic.twitter.com/iLH5Ni9xwS
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) February 8, 2025
The clash of the two Premier League sides saw Everton face Bournemouth with both sides coming on the back of good performances. Everton hadn’t lost since the middle of January while Bournemouth had handed a 5-0 loss to Nottingham only to lose to Liverpool. Antoine Semenyo opened the scoring when he managed to convert the penalty with a right-footed shot.
20 minutes later, Daniel Jebbison made his shot from the centre of the goal, which was enough for Everton to lose the chase. It marks Everton’s final FA Cup game at Goodison Park, with a hint of disappointment. Having won the title five times, the Toffees were just not in their element, missing close calls. Their second-half performance was no doubt better but it just wasn’t enough.
Wigan Atheltic 1-2 Fulham
Rodrigo Muniz may have taken Fulham on his own to the next round of the FA Cup. Muniz broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute with a close-range shot after Ryan Sessegnon made a measured cross. At Brick Community Stadium, Fulham had better possession than their opponents. They were constantly threatening Wigan Athletic’s defences.
Five minutes into the second half, Johnny Smith scored from outside the box with Babajide Adeeko earning the assist. However, Muniz restored the lead from Andreas Pereira shooting a through ball. Wigan did give their best fight, regrouping at every stage possible but Fulham were the better side.
Southampton 0-1 Burnley
It was the clash of the Premier League’s lowest-placed side against the Championships’ third-placed side. Southampton’s attack had been criticised throughout this season while Burnley have conceded just nine times in the Championship and that was ultimately the difference between the two sides. The Saints had come to the game after earning their second win of the season in the top tier.
Twice Ryan Manning had come to scoring but Vaclav Hladky’s efforts meant Burnley kept their spotless defence record intact. It was Marcus Edwards who scored from a close range coming to the side in the Winter transfer window from Sporting CP and ultimately proved the winner for the visitors.
Preston 0-0 Wycombe
Preston and Wycombe came to the draw with both sides trying to put pressure on their opponent from kickoff. It was a goalless draw within their 90 minutes during which both sides came close on a few occasions, but couldn’t manage to convert the chances. The game then headed to extra time and again none of them could make a difference.
It was down to Freddie Woodman to give his side their 10 long years of waiting to reach the FA Cup fifth final and he didn’t disappoint, making two crucial saves during the shoot. First, it was Dan Udoh who couldn’t find the back of the net and then Adam Reach failed. Ultimately Preston won 4-2 to proceed forward.
Ipswich Town took a 4-1 win over Coventry, while Bournemouth took an easy 2-0 win from an in-form Everton. Burnley’s amazing defence ensured that they proceed to the fifth round. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
