League One pair have cause for excitement this week but the rewards may be slim – so why not ditch replays until the semis?The FA Cup, once the competition that brought all of English football together, has become incredibly divisive. As the third‑round replays get under way this coming week, it will be hard not to notice that Wolves did not actually want an extra game at Old Trafford. It will be their 38th of an already long season, it will still be only mid-January, and Nuno Espírito Santo would have been perfectly happy for the matter to have been settled on penalties at Molineux.Traditionalists keen to hang on to the magic of the Cup will have been more encouraged...
Odds are against depleted Spurs, Everton need to respond after their derby woe while Solskjær is feeling the heat againJosé Mourinho’s life in football can be measured out in vendettas. There are two clubs he reserves a special enmity for, and for much the same reason. Both Barcelona and Liverpool passed over his services, choosing instead to turn to Pep Guardiola and Rafa Benítez, by little consequence two managers he has most enjoyed getting the better of. Only recently arrived at Tottenham, his latest club are near powerless to stop Liverpool’s procession to the Premier League title, save for performing the unlikely act of ending the leaders’ unbeaten run. To do so would be one of the shocks of the...
Wolves supporters taunted the away end during their FA Cup draw with United no longer deemed a major threat on the pitch“You’re not famous any more,” sang the home fans in the Jack Hayward Stand, but that isn’t really true. Manchester United are still famous, it’s just not for the same thing anymore. Once, as Steve Bull observed at half-time, Wolves would have feared United, but no longer. There was at least a semblance of pattern here, at least until they got into the final third, but unless they get an early goal and can counter, United rarely look like blowing opponents away. Related: Wolves force FA Cup replay against flat Manchester United after goalless draw Related: Harry Arter’s long-range...
Lamptey may not last long at Chelsea, Leicester can be regular title contenders and have Pereira and Ndombele finally arrived?Welcome to the Premier League, then, Tariq Lamptey. And – quite possibly – farewell. For the 19-year-old right-back, the Emirates Stadium was some place to make a professional debut. He rose to the challenge, keeping Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang quiet and making one thrilling foray into Arsenal territory before playing in Tammy Abraham. It says plenty about Chelsea’s short-term youth policy that Lampard felt able to throw an untried teenager into a game of this magnitude. It says plenty about Chelsea’s long-term youth policy that they may not be able to keep him. Lamptey’s contract is up at the end of the season,...
Adama Traoré stole the show with his bustling runs and goal that gave Wolves confidence to go on and beat Manchester City“It’s not football any more,” the Wolves fans sang at one point during this bizarre festive vaudeville. On this point, at least, they were wrong. This was, in many ways, modern Premier League football in its purest distillation: from the stark verticality to the puce-tinged rage, from the video-inspired plot twists to the freezing Molineux mist, from the humming madness of its start to the electrifying anarchy of its finish.At the end of which: an instant classic, and probably a fair result, albeit by wildly circuitous means. For all the outrageous swings in fortune, for all the operatic fury...