Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
The FA Cup holders Portsmouth suffered a comprehensive 2-0 defeat at home to Swansea on Saturday and it turned out to be the only real surprise of fourth round weekend.
The south coast side having lost their manager under controversial circumstances recently never really showed the form required to defend the trophy they won last May and the Welsh side showed what an improving team they are.
With the Premiership so tight at the bottom it appears the gap between the bottom half of that league and the Championship is getting closer and both cup competitions have proved that this year.
Both Cardiff and Ipswich also put up reasonable efforts against Arsenal and Chelsea respectively although it was only the Welsh side that earned a replay but all Premier sides now have to take their opponents seriously.
The fifth round draw is still a little confusing as there are so many replays but there is the possibility of half of the teams left being from the Championship. However, the main thing to notice is that the top five sides from the Premiership are still in the competition and only Villa and Liverpool could play each other so expect a good representation in the final eight.
Fifth round draw:
Sheffield United v Hull
Watford v Chelsea
West Ham v Middlesbrough
Sunderland/ Blackburn v Coventry
Derby/ Nottingham Forest v Man United
Swansea v Fulham
Liverpool/ Everton v Doncaster/ Aston Villa
Cardiff/ Arsenal v West Bromwich Albion/ Burnley
Manchester United's game at home to Spurs was anticipated as much for the team news as anything else after Harry Redknapp's comments following midweek's narrow win over Burnley in the Carling Cup. He said after that game that he would put the weakest team available to him and although he amended his comments later it was still expected we would be watching two second teams in the evening kick off on Saturday.
However, in the end both managers put out reasonable sides and although Spurs took the lead as they had done at the same point of the competition last year they also ended up losing after two goals in quick succession by Scoles and Berbatov at the end of the first half.
I am sure Redknapp will not be too disappointed given his side's perilous situation in the Premiership as the last thing he would want is a backlog of fixtures. Games in hand at the bottom of the table are nowhere near as useful as the points on the board.
The other main clash was another Merseyside derby and maybe predictably this ended in a 1-1 draw again. Also predictably it was Steven Gerrard who saved the game for Liverpool and Benitez must be beginning to wonder what would happen if he ever got injured or even worse has problems with the court case he will have to attend following the alleged assault charge against him.
The situation at Anfield is reaching crisis point which is a strange thing to say given the success they are having on three fronts but the manager's problems with his contract, new owners being discussed and the general problems they have of winning games the hard way are all suggesting things are not great below the surface.
Benitez looks agitated with the press and life generally and his post-match criticism of Everton's tactics was nothing more than we have come to expect after his rant about Ferguson two weeks ago.
There was to be no fairy tales for Torquay or Kettering but they did not go down without a fight with the former losing to Coventry in the last minutes whilst the latter went down 4-2 at home to Fulham. This scoreline, though, did not do them justice as two late goals hid the fact that the non-league side came back twice from being behind and the penalty decision against them for Fulham's second gaol was harsh to say the least when the handball given was at least two yards outside the box.
The FA Cup could have done with a romantic story like this though because the weakened teams managers are putting out along with the games being spread over the weekend are somewhat diluting this once prestigious competition.
It is still of course central to supporters' hearts but whether the same could be said of the managers and players is another thing entirely.
