Six FA Cup upsets just waiting to happen

Stephen Tudor
07 January 2016

"If this cup of yours was so magical Sturridge would have been fit"

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This weekend's FA Cup third round is synonymous with cliché and giant-killing upsets. Stephen Tudor succumbs to both as he picks out six potential shocks that will see the form book thrown from an imaginary window...

"Remi Garde would do well to play a showreel of Ronnie Radford’s rocket and Mickey Thomas’ wonderful flo
ater prior to the game to remind his boys that miracles very occasionally are possible."

The FA Cup third round turns us all into Ron Manager. The magic of the cup. Plucky minnows. Their name still in the hat. Isn't it.

Cliches aside though it remains a beloved date on the football calendar for the simple reason that there are few things sweeter than seeing a big club get its bottom well and truly smacked by a bunch of lower league dreamers.

Here are six giants who would be well advised to look out for discarded outer layers of yellow fruit this weekend.

Exeter City v Liverpool

The Grecians may be languishing in League Two mid-table obscurity but this is the cup and this is the mighty Liverpool at home. So expect players you're only slightly familiar with because they once had a brief cameo in the top flight to suddenly play like demented world-beaters, hurtling into challenges as if their very lives depend on it.

This pairing is so peak FA Cup it could have been conceived by Motson in his sheepskin coat and best of all it even has a back-story just waiting for completion.

Back in 2001 Clinton Morrison scored in a League Cup semi-final first leg and unwisely made disparaging remarks about Michael Owen in his post-match interview.

A 5-0 dismantling in the return leg brought much scoffing from the Kop.

With Liverpool's entire back-line on the treatment table the 36 year old Morrison will be seeking revenge 15 years in the making.

Wycombe Wanderers v Aston Villa

For anyone looking for potential upsets this weekend this tie jumps out and kisses you because stranger things have happened and Villa might just grab something.

Remi Garde would do well to play a showreel of Ronnie Radford's rocket and Mickey Thomas' wonderful floater prior to the game to remind his boys that miracles very occasionally are possible.

Manchester United v Sheffield United

Louis Van Gaal was reportedly fuming following United's 2-1 victory over Swansea last week. For both goals the scorers were in perfect positions to lay it off to a full-back who could have then rolled it to Schweinsteiger to begin another passage of dull, predictable possession.

A club whose very identity is entwined with entertainment and adventure have been involved in five goalless stalemates this season while they have scored 12 less goals than mid-table Everton. The stats though simply don't do justice to how torpid Manchester United have become under the uber-pragmatic Dutchman and the Blades will travel to Old Trafford feeling the back pages are theirs for the taking.

Oxford United v Swansea City

Firmly in the League Two promotion mix The Us could probably do without the distraction of a cup run this season. Yet when the draw throws up a home tie with a top flight side who have won only once since October what's a club to do?

Caretaker-boss Alan Curtis may have improved performances of late but the Swans are still painfully goal-shy and the last thing they need is a trip to a pumped up Kassam Stadium and this one has upset written all over it.

It's David vs Goliath except the former has been working out while the big man has M.E.

Eastleigh v Bolton Wanderers

Having reached the third round for the first time in their 70 year history we can expect a sell-out at the Silverlake Stadium this Saturday as non-league Eastleigh hope to join Hereford and Sutton United in the history books and grab a big slice of the headlines to boot.

For their dream tie the south coast club - who five years ago were getting average crowds of 600 - couldn't have hoped for a better pairing with Bolton representing the best of both worlds. On the one hand they are a significant scalp and a name synonymous with the cup evoking sepia-tinged memories of Nat Lofthouse. On the other they are presently mired in crisis and rooted to the foot of the Championship.

At this very moment commentators are practising their 'off-the-cuff' memorable lines and Wanderers boss Neil Lennon should be very worried indeed.

Norwich City v Manchester City

As Motty quite possibly once mangled in a pre-match report two Premier League sides does not an upset make. Yet victory for Norwich here will raise collective eyebrows while heaping further pressure on the under-fire boss of the clear favourites - the classic combination for any traditional upset.

A jubilant Carrow Road at 5pm on Saturday however shouldn't come as any great surprise. Alex Neil's side have hit decent form of late grabbing maximum points in their last two at home while a well-deserved day to remember at Old Trafford prior to Christmas means the canaries are soaring from the relegation quagmire.

City meanwhile continue to stutter and with David Silva visibly struggling their usual incisive passing has become stodgy and pedestrian. Two wins from their last nine away games is little short of woeful.

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