FA Cup Third-Round Talking Points: Newcastle in Must-Win Tyne-Wear Derby as Kevin De Bruyne Returns for Man City
Arsenal vs Liverpool - Sunday,
4.30pm
Liverpool's FA Cup third-round
tie at Arsenal on Sunday will be the first time manager Jurgen Klopp is unable
to select Mohamed Salah in his starting lineup this season now that the forward
has joined up with Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Salah's absence for the rest of
January "damages" the Reds, according to Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville, and while the player is
irreplaceable, Klopp can use the clash at the Emirates to try out who he
believes is best suited to fill in for the Premier League's joint top scorer on
the righthand side of their attack.
And with two top-flight goals and
an assist to his name so far this campaign, including a recent late winner at
Crystal Palace, the 20-year-old has the confidence to take on one of the
hardest jobs in world football - replacing Salah.
Arsenal
will play Liverpool three times in a little over a month but this second
instalment of the series may be the one where Mikel Arteta makes his team
selections based on the bigger picture. A win would be a timely morale-boost
but recovery may well be the primary focus.
The
defeat at Fulham last weekend was well below par and no doubt Arteta and the
players from that match will be itching to get back out on the field and put in
an improved performance. But after a packed festive schedule, a physical and
mental rest will surely be in order for some, with Arsenal winning just one of
their last six in all competitions.
There will be some enforced selections, with Jakob Kiwior
certain to be in defence with Takehiro Tomiyasu at the Asian Cup and Oleksandr
Zinchenko nursing a calf problem. Cup regulars Aaron Ramsdale, Leandro
Trossard, Emile Smith Rowe and Jorginho are also likely to get a run out.
Arteta used the Carabao Cup tie at West Ham earlier this season
to take key men Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard
and William Saliba out of the firing line, and a similar approach could be on
the cards here - despite the heavyweight opponents coming to the Emirates.
With a Champions League last-16 tie to look forward to and a
Premier League title challenge to relaunch, the FA Cup has been nudged down the
priority list for Arsenal right now. But it will still be a big game for the
fringe players handed their chance - and if Liverpool take a similar view,
Arteta could well have his cake and eat it.
Manchester City vs Huddersfield -
Sunday, 2pm
"The whole country is starting to shake." That was the
unique assessment of Klopp when Kevin De Bruyne partook in his first touchline
warm-up since returning from injury at the weekend.
There was not a greater cheer among Manchester City supporters
all afternoon during their routine win over Sheffield United last Saturday. The
Belgian has only played 23 league minutes this season having undergone surgery
on a persistent hamstring problem.
An unused substitute against the Blades, the visit of
Huddersfield to the Etihad Stadium this weekend offers Pep Guardiola the ideal
opportunity to ease De Bruyne back to full fitness.
With the Premier League champions not having any players away on
international duty this month, De Bruyne's return brings with it a double
delight.
Warm weather training in the Middle East for the Club World Cup
has helped the 32-year-old step up the intensity of training with his
team-mates. De Bruyne has said he is determined to become the "best player
in the world". After four months of watching on from the sidelines, he
will hope to take the first step on that journey this weekend against the
Terriers.
Ben Grounds
Maidstone vs Stevenage -
Saturday, 12.30pm
George Elokobi's love affair with the FA Cup runs deep. When he
was a youngster growing up in Cameroon, the former Wolves centre-back would cut
grass with a machete and chop wood to earn money to watch cup matches at a
'mini cinema'.
The 37-year-old has since played and scored in the famous
competition with his hometown of Kumbu now set to watch his sixth-tier
Maidstone United, the lowest-ranked team remaining, host League One side
Stevenage on Saturday lunchtime.
Elokobi has been in permanent
charge of the National League South club since last March, his first managerial
job after hanging up his boots in 2022 following a career that took him from
non-League to the Premier League with four promotions and goals at every level.
Maidstone beat League Two
high-fliers Barrow to reach the third round for the first time since reforming
in 1992 and a sold-out Gallagher Stadium awaits Elokobi's next cup adventure.
David Richardson
Newcastle
cannot lose the 'one game they didn't want'
Sunderland vs Newcastle -
Saturday, 2.45pm
With just one win from their last eight games, a cup tie against
lower-league opposition should be the perfect get-right match for Newcastle.
But instead, a trip to Sunderland is the “one game they didn’t want”.
That was the view of Gary Neville and it’s easy to see why. It’s
been nearly eight years since the sides last met and Sunderland will welcome
Newcastle to the Stadium of Light with genuine belief that they can add to
their rivals’ woe and create real doubts over Eddie Howe’s future.
As well as what is sure to be a raucous atmosphere, Newcastle
will also be faced with overcoming their bafflingly terrible recent record
against Sunderland.
The Magpies have failed to win
any of the last nine meetings between the sides, with their last victory coming
in August 2011 under Alan Pardew.
Fatigue and a crippling list of
absentees are always added as caveats when discussing Newcastle’s troubling
form over a busy winter. But they cannot be used as excuses if they fall to
another defeat at Sunderland.
Even with their list of injured
and suspended players, Newcastle’s squad contains far greater quality than that
of their second-tier opponents.
A defeat would be the most damaging
of Howe’s tenure at St James’ Park and, with Premier League fixtures against
Manchester City and Aston Villa next up, the future would begin to look very
bleak indeed for the manager if his side’s final hopes of silverware were
extinguished by their greatest rivals.
Joe Shread
FA Cup last chance for Man Utd success
Wigan vs Man Utd - Monday, 8.15pm
Eighth in the Premier League and
nine points off the top four. A fourth-round Carabao Cup exit and rock-bottom
Champions League finish. It has been a miserable season for Manchester United
and Erik ten Hag, but they have one last chance to save it.
The FA Cup represents United's
only hope of winning silverware under the Dutchman this year and, on paper at
least, they have a straightforward passage to the next round. There are tougher
opponents than Wigan Athletic - a team sitting 17th in League One - but it
would be foolish to write them off given United's inconsistency this term.
Ten Hag's side have lost 14 of
their 28 games in all competitions and will be in unfamiliar territory when
they make the short journey to the DW Stadium on Monday night. It will be their
first away domestic cup tie since March 2021 - that alone poses a psychological
challenge.
Ten Hag still has some credit in
the back after delivering United's first trophy in six years and finishing
third in the Premier League during his debut campaign, but he cannot afford to
let his team's dismal form in the second half of 2023 continue into 2024.
Now, under the watchful eye of
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS, the pressure to perform is greater than ever.
Winning the FA Cup is the very least he and United must achieve to make this
season some sort of success.
Dan Sansom
Where's the best chance of an upset?
Stoke vs Brighton - Saturday,
3pm; Luton vs Bolton - Sunday, 2pm; West Ham vs Bristol City -
Sunday, 2pm
Many of the FA Cup's most iconic moments have been written by
plucky underdogs, and there are plenty of opportunities for cup upsets this
weekend with 12 of the 20 Premier League entrants facing lower-league
opposition.
With a Europa League knock-out run to come, hopes of a repeat
performance in 2023/24 and an injury crisis across the squad, Brighton will
be a clear target for Championship strugglers Stoke, who have
slowly begun to turn their season around in recent weeks.
Roberto De Zerbi's absentee list has hit his squad so severely,
both Adam Webster and Pervis Estupinan started Tuesday's game at West Ham
despite their manager admitting neither were physically fit.
New Potters boss Stephen Schumacher is unbeaten in his four
games in charge at the Bet365 Stadium, and held high-flying Ipswich to a
goalless draw on New Year's Day.
They will have hopes of taking Brighton back to the Amex at the
very least, while Bolton will likewise believe they can get
something from Kenilworth Road when they travel to Luton on
Sunday.
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