FA Cup fourth round: 10 things to look out for this weekend


Slaven Bilic returns to West Ham, Chris Wilder goes back to where it all began and Arsenal may turn to Eddie Nketiah

Shrewsbury are not averse to a flush of FA Cup romance. In January 2003 they were at the foot of the fourth tier when Everton visited and the wily old hands, Ian Woan and Nigel Jemson, combined to confirm one of this millennium’s more famous shocks. Wind back a couple of decades and they enjoyed two quarter-final appearances under Graham Turner. Between the two, in 1996, there was a fourth-round tie against Roy Evans’ Liverpool, who came away comfortable 4-0 winners. The local newspaper worked out that it was a meeting of teams worth £195,000 and £29.6m respectively. Back then it was an eye-watering disparity but nowadays the latter figure would not even buy you Sadio Mané’s weaker left foot. The Shrews are comfortable enough in League One’s midfield these days but Liverpool’s modern-day visit is arguably the toughest assignment they have ever faced. The beauty of the cup, though, is that it still manages to create heroes nobody would ever have foreseen. Perhaps Shrewsbury could be the team that finally shatter the Premier League leaders’ veneer of invincibility. NA

Shrewsbury v Liverpool, Sunday 5pm (all times GMT)

Southampton v Tottenham, Saturday 3pm

Newcastle v Oxford United, Saturday 3pm

Related: Transfer window January 2020 – every deal from Europe's top five leagues

Millwall v Sheffield United, Saturday 3pm

Related: Northampton’s Jordan Turnbull: ‘Sharing a pitch with Rooney is special’

Coventry v Birmingham, Saturday 3pm

Bournemouth v Arsenal, Monday 8pm

QPR v Sheffield Wednesday, Friday 8pm

West Ham v West Brom, Saturday 3pm

Related: Manchester United's wheel and it all goes Pete Tong for Ibiza – Football Weekly Extra

Portsmouth v Barnsley, Saturday 3pm

Brentford v Leicester, 12.45pm Saturday 12.45pm

Continue reading...