Asenal 2-2 Everton : Wenger accepted Rosicky's late strike

Arsenal 2
-Denilson 28,
-Rosicky 90

Everton 2
-Osman 12,
-Pienaar 81
Leon Osman headed the visitors into a deserved lead after 12 minutes. However, the midfielder then deflected Denilson's shot past Tim Howard as the Gunners levelled before the break.

Steven Pienaar's breakaway goal looked to have won it with eight minutes to go, only for Rosicky to grab a crucial strike in added time as Arsenal cut the deficit on leaders Chelsea down to three points.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had called on his team to maintain the momentum which has dragged them right back into the title rave with five wins from six but it was Everton who made the better start.

Louis Saha had got ahead of the defence on the right but blasted over.

Denilson, just returned from a back problem, had to be taken off on a stretcher after collapsing in the build up to the Everton attack. Fran Merida came on.

Arsenal threw plenty forward during the closing stages and were rewarded in stoppage time when Rosicky smashed home a close-range shot which deflected off Lucas Neill.

Wenger accepted Rosicky's late strike, which deflected in off Lucas Neill, could yet prove crucial come the end of the season. He said: ''It is an important goal because it shows the spirit of the team right until the last minute

The real tests, as we all know, will come at the end of January. Will we require new signings by then? If Denilson’s injury is long-term, then perhaps a replacement for Song will be on the agenda. On separate occasions both Gallas and Vermaelen required treatment from the physio, underlining our need for a back-up centre-back (I occasionally forget that Johan Djourou even plays for the club, so long has he been out injured). And upfront, Andrey Arshavin struggled to make an impact in a position he’s clearly not purpose-built for. It’s becoming a shame not to see Arshavin attacking from deep, where he’s at his best. Our most skillful player with the ball barely gets it.

Arsene now has a week without a fixture in which to go fishing on the market. Let’s see if he catches anything.

5 goals between snow

Stoke City (3)
-Tuncay Sanli (12).
-Abdoulaye Faye (34)
-Mamady Sidibe (37)

Fulham (2)
-Damien Duff (61)
-Clint Dempsey (85)
Some dire defending allowed Stoke to go into the break three goals up, Tuncay kick-starting it with a neat header.

Abdoulaye Faye then slid in from close range and Mamady Sidibe half-volleyed the third with the Potters comfortable.

Damien Duff's deflected shot and Clint Dempsey's dipping long-ranger led to a nervy finale, but Stoke just held on.

It was a tense finish to an entertaining match, but home manager Tony Pulis might wonder how his side were forced to hang on in the closing stages having dominated for so long against a lacklustre Fulham outfit.

Stoke were forced to hold off a late Fulham rally to secure a first league win in six games in a topsy-turvy match in snowy conditions at the Britannia.

And had Dempsey himself finished more accurately having collected Murphy's pass over the top minutes later, Stoke's resolve might have been tested a lot sooner as Fulham finally displayed some measure of fight.

As it was, the Potters regained their composure in the final quarter, and Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer was fortunate to beat away a Ricardo Fuller shot at his near post after it had taken a deflection.

Still, when Dempsey fired Fulham's second from nothing - a dipping volley from 25 yards that gave home keeper Steve Simonsen little chance - all of a sudden the Potters were forced to dig in for the first time in the match.

It was all too little, too late from Fulham, though, and City deservedly held on for the victory that moves them to within three points and a place off the Londoners in the Premier League table

Lineup :

Stoke City:
Simonsen, Huth, Abdoulaye Faye, Shawcross, Higginbotham, Lawrence ( 'Diao 90), Delap (Whelan '66), Whitehead, Etherington, Sanli (Fuller '42), Sidibe

Fulham:
Schwarzer, Kelly, Hughes, Hangeland (Smalling '45), Konchesky, Gera, Murphy, Baird, Duff, Johnson (Nevland '83), Zamora (Dempsey '54)

Chelsea without Drogba destroyed Watford

Chelsea 5 ------------- 0 Watford
- Sturridge 5,
- Eustace (og) 15,
- Malouda 22,
- Lampard 64,
- Sturridge 68

The likes of Ashley Cole, Florent Malouda and Alex replaced the absentees in a line-up clearly selected to deal with any possibilty of a shock at the first time of asking.

And the Blues didn't waste too long confirming their superiority - although doubtless boss Malky will be disappointed that an early lead was yielded from a set piece.

This was all too easy, with Watford never recovering from their fifth minute concession. Malouda's centre duly prompted panic just before the quarter-hour mark with the ball ricocheting from Joe Cole, Adrian Mariappa and Frank Lampard before dribbling in off John Eustace. Lampard found his own reward with a trademark dipping shot over Scott Loach just after the hour to ease the home side four goals ahead.

Teams:

Chelsea: Hilario, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole (Kakuta '74), Lampard, Belletti (Matic '65), Zhirkov, Joe Cole, Malouda, Sturridge (Borini '70).

Watford: Loach, Hodson, Mariappa, DeMerit, Doyley, Eustace, Cowie (Harley '80), Lansbury, Severin (Jenkins 46), Cleverley, Graham (Hrnderson '80).

Eduardo helped Arsenal come from behind to win at Upton Park

Arsenal progressed into the fourth round of the FA cup courtesy of an Eduardo header as they defeated West Ham United 2-1 at Upton Park. Alessandro Diamanti opened the scoring for the Hammers in first half stoppage time before Aaron Ramsey equalised in the second half

Another key to the game was shifting Carlos Vela to the left and moving Eduardo to the middle. They started the other way round in the first half and that, simply, didn’t work out. Glad to take a small revenge after being called all sorts of things for calling Carlos a pure left winger in the match preview.

With just a dozen minutes remaining, however, the reshuffled Arsenal drew themselves level, when Vela collected from Song and picked out Ramsey, whose ten-yard shot on the turn gave Green no chance.

Then, on 83 minutes, Eduardo secured the Gunners' place in the next round when he met Vela's left-wing cross with a header that looped beyond Green and under the keeper's right-hand angle.

Line Up Teams :

West Ham United: Robert Green, Matthew Upson, James Tomkins, Fabio Daprela, Radoslav Kovac, Luis Antonio Jimenez, Julien Faubert, Valon Behrami, Junior Stanislas (Anthony Edgar 87), Alessandro Diamanti, Frank Nouble (Fred Sears 79).

Arsenal: Lukasz Fabianski, Mikael Silvestre, William Gallas, Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen, Alexandre Song, Fran Merida (Abou Diaby 65), Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere (Samir Nasri 65), Eduardo da Silva, Carlos Vela.

Fergie : Leeds fought like a tiger

High flying Leeds United produced a huge upset as they traveled to Old Trafford and handed Manchester United a surprise defeat in this FA Cup clash. The League One side were not overawed by the occasion and Jermaine Beckford’s well taken goal was the least they deserved and Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United side can have no complaints about the final outcome of this third round clash.

Leeds United defender Leigh Bromby was unavailable through suspension, but Jermaine Beckford and Luciano Becchio started upfront for Simon Grayson’s side. Midfielder Richard Snodgrass returned to the squad but only on the substitute’s bench.

The game was being played quickly and the next chance fell to the home side. Fabio da Silva released Welbeck in the 9th minute, the young forward delivered a great cross into the Leeds six yard box but the unmarked Dimitar Berbatov didn’t gamble and try to get on the end of it.

Two minutes later Beckford had a long range effort easily saved by Kuszczak but in the 18th minute the visitors sensationally took the lead.

In the third minute of injury time Ankegren made a fantastic save to deny Rooney, and although Manchester United searched for the equaliser but they were unable to seriously test the Leeds goalkeeper again and Leeds recorded a memorable victory. For Manchester United this is the first time in 25 years they have gone out of the FA Cup in the third round.

Teams:

Manchester United: Tomasz Kuszczak; Gary Neville, Wes Brown, Jonathan Evans, Fabio Da Silva, Darron Gibson, Anderson (Michael Owen '69), Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney, Gabriel Obertan (Antonio Valencia '58), Danny Welbeck (Ryan Giggs' 58).

Leeds United: Casper Ankergren; Jason Crowe, Richard Naylor, Patrick Kisnorbo, Andy Hughes (Aidan White '90), Michael Doyle, Neil Kilkenny, Bradley Johnson, Jonathan Howson (Robert Snodgrass '78), Luciano Becchio (Lubomír Michalik '88), Jermaine Beckford.

Steven Gerrard rescued Liverpool again

It was hardly the most influential game from Gerrard but the Liverpool skipper produced a goal when his side needed it most, as he does so often, meaning the two clubs will meet again at Anfield.

Simon Church had bundled in an opener to give the hosts the scent of an upset but Gerrard levelled before the break for Rafael Benitez's men.

Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani moved back to bench-warming duties after making back-to-back starts for Rafael Benitez in the previous two matches.

Club has been in freefall since the surrender of the top flight two seasons ago, and people like Kevin Doyle and Stephen Hunt have been sold, but at least the current players do not give up. Gylfi Sigurdsson fired a swerving Reina needed a decent save.

Torres had threatened just after the break when he shot narrowly over the bar from the edge of the area.

Federici appeared to pull hamstring in the middle of the second half so that Ben Hamer came off the bench. Benitez also brought in for Ngog Aquilani.

Hamer saved on the line before the end of Aquilani and Torres headed just over the suspension of time.

Team Line-Ups:

Reading: Federici (Hammer 68′), Bertrand, Ingimarson, Mills, Gunnarsson, Cisse (Howard 74′), Karacan, McAnuff, Sigurdsson, Church, Rasiak (Long 77′)

Liverpool: Reina, Darby, Carragher, Skrtel, Insua, Gerrard, Lucas, Aurelio (Benayounm 79′), Ngog (Aquilani 67′), Kuyt, Torres

Manchester City's forgotten man Benjani scored his first goal

A goal from Benjani was enough to see a depleted Manchester City side progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough.

Benjani pounced on the stroke of half time after good work from Martin Petrov to earn his side the victory in a hard-fought encounter.

On a bitterly cold afternoon at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough named the same side that lost to Barnsley.

All the while Mancini was looking on with a knowing eye, not afraid to back his judgement or make tactical switches as necessary

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini made several changes for his first taste of FA Cup football. Youngsters Vladimir Weiss and Dedryck Boyata were named in the starting eleven along with Benjani.

Some City fans didn’t make it over the treacherous M62 but those who did saw boss Roberto Mancini clock up a third straight win in charge and a third clean sheet.

Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy were all named among the substitutes but were all brought on in the second half.

Martin Petrov played a one-two with Benjani on the edge of the box but his effort failed to trouble Danny Coyne in the Boro goal.

On the stroke of half time City got themselves ahead with Petrov and Benjani combining again.

The Bulgarian raced through the Middlesbrough midfield and played in Benjani on the right hand side of the box, who fired his effort into the corner of the net to give his side the lead.

Manchester City were much more comfortable in the second half than they were in the first. The in-form Tevez was a threat throughout racing past a couple of Boro defenders before firing straight at Coyne from the edge of the box.

The home side had a great chance to equalize after 63 minutes. Tony McMahon crossed from the left but Rhys Williams could only loop his header onto the roof of the net.

City almost sealed the game from the resulting goal-kick. Chris Riggott failed to deal with the long ball and Carlos Tevez pounced, rounding the keeper but failing to hit the target, when it looked a certainty to score.

In a frantic end to the game Petrov, Tevez and Bellamy all had chances to score late on but somehow failed to hit the back of the net.

With almost the last kick of the game, the ball fell to Jonathan Franks in the box but his shot was blocked and scrambled away by the City defence and they held on to their lead.

It was a tough game for Mancini's side but they will be happy to see their name in the hat for the next round.