LONDON: Third-tier Leeds United produced the shock of the third round by knocking record 11-time winners Manchester United out of the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford on Sunday.Leeds, the League One leaders who are 43 places below English champions Manchester United, won thanks to Jermaine Beckford's 19th-minute goal and will now face Tottenham in the fourth round.
Arsenal, who've lifted the FA Cup 10 times, were themselves 12 minutes away from a third round exit against Premier League and London rivals West Ham after Alessandro Diamanti had put the hosts ahead on the stroke of half-time.
But two goals in five minutes from teenage midfielder Aaron Ramsey and striker Eduardo stunned the Upton Park faithful as Arsenal won 2-1 to set up another all Premier League Cup clash against Stoke.
FA Cup holders Chelsea, who lead the Premier League by two points from Manchester United, cruised through with a 5-0 thrashing of second division Watford at Stamford Bridge and will now be away to another Championship team, Preston North End.
Defeat was the first time Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had lost in the third round since he arrived at Old Trafford 24 years ago and marked United's first exit at this stage since losing to Bournemouth in 1984.
This loss was not what United wanted ahead of Wednesday's League Cup semi-final, first leg, tie against local rivals Manchester City and Ferguson said: "We have to get this result out of our system as quickly as possible."
Chelsea were 3-0 in front by the 22nd minute thanks to Daniel Sturridge, a John Eustace own-goal and Florent Malouda's deflected shot.
England midfielder Frank Lampard made it 4-0 in the 64th minute with a 25-yard strike and four minutes later 20-year-old striker Sturridge had his second and Chelsea's fifth goal.
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti was particularly pleased by the performance of Sturridge.
The young forward's goals were his first for the Blues since a pre-season move from Manchester City and were timely as Chelsea are currently without in-form striker Didier Drogba because of the Ivory
0 comments:
Post a Comment