Chelsea star says goodbye: everything you might have missed this weekend

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The FA Cup third round is one of the most eagerly anticipated dates in the English football calendar, with the giants joining the lower league minnows to have made it this far.

We haven’t seen any famed ‘giant killings’ so far, with the likes of Arsenal, Man United and Chelsea all cruising through without conceding a goal – Spurs and Man City took things further by winning their ties 7-0.

However, the world’s most famous domestic cup competition has still served up a bundle of smaller shocks, emotional farewells and crazy moments and here at Squawka, we’ve compiled a list of 12 of the best just for you.

Grab a brew, get comfy and read on for some FA Cup magic.

1. Fabregas’ farewell

Cesc Fabregas started and captained Chelsea in their 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest on what looks to be his final appearance in English football before he jets off to Monaco. Despite missing a penalty, the Spaniard left the field in the 85th minute to an incredible ovation from the Chelsea faithful, leaving Fabregas looking visibly emotional as he waved a fond farewell to a remarkable stage in his career.

2. Morata’s miss

While one Spaniard waved goodbye to the English game at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, another was desperately seeking to re-ignite his career on these shores. Alvaro Morata may have scored two goals, but in a horrible stroke of bad luck, nobody will care about that now; the focus post-match has very much been on his 58th-minute miss, ballooning the ball over the bar from no more than three yards out.

With Morata in an offside position, it wouldn’t have counted anyway, and he even made up for the miss a minute later with his second goal of the game, but it’ll take him a while to live this one down.

3. Blackpool boycott 

League One Blackpool vs Premier League Arsenal; surely that’s a recipe for a sell-out crowd, right? Wrong. Blackpool have been through the mill in recent years and their fan’s anger against the owners has been both vocal and visible.

The large majority of fans at Bloomfield Road yesterday were wearing the red and white of Arsenal, with Tangerine fans boycotting the fixture, believing the club’s owners run the club ‘for their own benefit’, not for the fans.

4. Portsmouth eliminate Norwich in the 94th minute

One of the only clubs that could share the pain felt by Blackpool in recent years is Portsmouth; the south coast side went from FA Cup winners in 2008 to League Two strugglers in the blink of an eye and have only recently stabilised and begun trying to climb back up the ladder, now sitting top of League One.

Saturday was another step in the right direction for Pompey, as they not only kept a clean sheet against high-flying Championship side Norwich City, but also bagged a 94th-minute winner courtesy of Aston Villa loanee Andre Green.

5. Cardiff the first ‘giants’ slayed

So, none of the absolute giants of English football crashed out of the cup this weekend, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any David’s striking down a Goliath.

The biggest shock of the weekend was surely at the Priestfield Stadium, where League One strugglers Gillingham held on and scored in the 81st minute to send Premier League side Cardiff City crashing out of the cup at the first attempt. Cardiff probably have their sights more set on Premier League survival, but try telling their very embarrassed fans that now.

6. Pompey super sub strikes again

We mentioned before that Portsmouth pulled off a fantastic injury-time victory over Norwich on Saturday via an Andre Green goal. Well, it would appear these late strikes are something of a habit for the 20-year-old, having already pulled off the same feat away to Rochdale in the second round.

Same again in the fourth round, lads.

7. Willock makes case to step into impending Ramsey void

After rejecting a new contract offer, it would appear Aaron Ramsey’s time at Arsenal is about to come to a close, with Juventus reportedly waiting in the wings.

Fear not, though, Gunners; yesterday, Joe Willock bagged two goals as Arsenal put Blackpool to the sword in a 3-0 victory and in doing so, became the youngest player to score for Arsenal in the FA Cup (19y 138d) since January 2010, when Aaron Ramsey himself netted against West Ham (19y 8d).

Ready to step up?

8. Foden’s on fire

During Manchester City’s home victory over Rotherham, Phil Foden took full advantage of a rare start in Pep Guardiola’s side by bagging a goal in the 43rd minute.

In doing so, the English playmaker became the youngest Man City player to score in the FA Cup (18y 223d) since Rony Lopes (17 y 8d) struck against Watford in January 2013. Keep ’em coming, Phil.

9. Cup horror stops the Tractor Boys in their tracks again

After going down 1-0 against Accrington Stanley on Saturday, Ipswich Town have now been eliminated from the FA Cup at the third round stage in each of the last nine seasons, a run stretching back to the 2010-11 season.

Absolutely sick of the sight of it.

10. Century for Sterling

Raheem Sterling’s 12th-minute opener against Rotherham on Sunday set City on their way to a rampant 7-0 victory at the Etihad. That goal was also the 100th the England international has been directly involved in since moving to the club, scoring 55 and providing 45 assists.

Even more impressive is the fact that it has only taken Sterling 167 Man City appearances to achieve that feat.

11. Hudson-Odoi makes statement

Will Christian Pulisic’s arrival stunt the growth of Callum Hudson-Odoi? Will the English youngster even be at Stamford Bridge by the time he arrives in the summer, with Bayern Munich interested?

For now, Hudson-Odoi is not interested in those questions, showing everyone at Chelsea what he is capable of by providing two assists in the space of 10 minutes as the Blues beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 on Saturday.

The 18-year-old’s Chelsea future may be in doubt, but his future in the game looks anything but after a brilliant showcase of his pace and ability.

12. Bernard off the mark 

After a number of high profile misses against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United, many Everton fans were beginning to question whether Bernard was quite cut out for English football.

The Brazilian finally got his first goal in an Everton shirt on Saturday, with a lovely, delicate chip over Lincoln City goalkeeper Josh Vickers in the 14th minute as the Toffees managed a narrow 2-1 victory.

The goal may have only been against a League Two side, but it showed Bernard does indeed have composure in front of goal and can only give him the confidence to kick on from here.

The post Farewell, Fabregas: the FA Cup action you might have missed appeared first on Squawka News.



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