As the fifth round concludes, the Road to Wembley narrows, The big clubs continue to impress in the competition as they await the draw for the last 8 on Monday, Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all demonstrated the technical gap between the lower league teams and the Premier league teams, as they were able to qualify for the quarter finals by beating them.
The tournament’s headline was the current Champions, Crystal Palace, being knocked out by Macclesfield, a team in the 6th tier of English football. The non-league side secured a shocking 2-1 victory, which saw them progress to the fourth round and end Crystal Palace’s defense of their title. Macclesfield’s run was ended by Brentford, who narrowly beat them by one goal.
For the 14 time FA cup champions Arsenal they had to overcome a stubborn Mansfield town in an encounter which saw the Gunners come out on top with a narrow 2-1 win with goals from Noni Madueke and later a winner form Eberechi Eze which came 10 minutes after Mansfield Town had just equalized through Will Evans, this win keeps the dream alive for Mikel Arteta’s side who aim for a quadruple this season, they remain 7 points clear in the Premier League table with 9 games to go, they also play a carabao final against Manchester city and they have a champions league Knockout game against Bayern Leverkusen.
The biggest game of the round saw Manchester City comfortably overcome Newcastle united, it was once again Omar Marmoush who was the star of the show as he faced his favorite opponent having scored a hat-trick against them in the past, he was again haunted this time in the FA cup with 2 goals which ensured the Citizens proceed to the last 8, Pep is looking to reach another final and win it after last season’s disappointing defeat to Crystal Palace.
Chelsea was in the edge of elimination in this round as Wrexham had the lead twice in the game and they had to be rescued by by their depth of their bench, Liam Rosinor’s side was forced to play an extra 30 minutes which they needed to avoid because of their upcoming fixture against PSG in the champions league, the North Wales club showed that they are not only known because of their celebrity ownership but they have improved to the point of pushing Chelsea to the limit. Goals from Garnacho and the on-form striker Joao Pedro secured a 4-2 win for the Blues.
