Bona-fide giantkilling seems to be a thing of the past, with bigger teams, Liverpool and Leeds last time out, often making multiple changes and all-but encouraging the smaller ones to put them out of their miseryWho needs a winter break when the FA Cup makes a perfectly good substitute? Everton are sunning themselves in Dubai, Liverpool re-enacting a pre-season (Jürgen Klopp’s words) at La Manga, while Sunderland have been testing their supporters’ patience by flying to New York for a team-bonding session.All of these jollies and a few more were made possible by early exits from the FA Cup. Given that other teams might suffer should Liverpool come back with batteries charged and deliver on their promise to win every...
Liverpool’s defence needs to find cohesion fast, Lincoln felt the force with Alan Power and Bastian Schweinsteiger is welcomed back by José MourinhoIt was an afternoon when the ball would not go in for Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The Chelsea attacking midfielder was twice denied by the Brentford goalkeeper, Daniel Bentley, and, when he clipped over him on 58 minutes, the effort came back off the crossbar. Loftus-Cheek had two other moments when he jinked inside the area but could not find a finish. It was, nonetheless, an eye-catching performance from the 21-year-old – in front of the watching England manager, Gareth Southgate – in which he advertised both his power and the deftness of his touch. Could it offer him a...
Will Daniel Sturridge get a chance to regain his verve? Will Ranieri fine-tune for a relegation battle? Will Ravel Morrison return to Old Trafford?A clutch of (fool)hardy Lincoln City fans queued through Wednesday night in sub-zero temperatures in order to get their gloved hands on the last tickets for their club’s biggest and indeed only fourth-round FA Cup tie since 1976. Those fans were evidently not discouraged by the fact that the National League leaders had suffered their heaviest defeat of the season the previous night, when they were beaten 3-0 by Barrow, whose rugged approach on a treacherous pitch fairly knocked Danny Cowley’s men out of their impish stride. The Championship leaders, Brighton, will probably not resort to such...