Everton go to Crystal Palace on Thursday within the first of the weekend’s FA Cup third-round fixtures. Sky Sports activities’ soccer writers take a look at the important thing speaking factors…
Can Elliott stake a declare to be Salah’s Liverpool understudy?
Arsenal vs Liverpool – Sunday, 4.30pm
Liverpool’s FA Cup third-round tie at Arsenal on Sunday would be the first time supervisor Jurgen Klopp is unable to pick out Mohamed Salah in his beginning lineup this season now that the ahead has joined up with Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Salah’s absence for the remainder of January “damages” the Reds, in response to Sky Sports activities pundit Gary Neville, and whereas the participant is irreplaceable, Klopp can use the conflict on the Emirates to check out who he believes is greatest suited to fill in for the Premier League’s joint prime scorer on the righthand aspect of their assault.
Don’t be shocked then to see Harvey Elliott handed the job, a task he has already taken on when coming off the bench to interchange Salah at instances this season, whereas the versatile ahead can also be comfy working on that aspect of the pitch – in contrast to fellow forwards Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo, who all both choose to play on the left of a entrance three, or via the center.
And with two top-flight objectives and an help to his identify up to now this marketing campaign, together with a current late winner at Crystal Palace, the 20-year-old has the boldness to tackle one of many hardest jobs in world soccer – changing Salah.
Richard Morgan
Key Arsenal gamers want a breather – however replacements will probably be determined to indicate their price
Arsenal will play Liverpool thrice in just a little over a month however this second instalment of the sequence will be the one the place Mikel Arteta makes his workforce picks based mostly on the larger image. A win could be a well timed morale-boost however restoration might be the first focus.
The defeat at Fulham final weekend was properly beneath par and little doubt Arteta and the gamers from that match will probably be itching to get again out on the sphere and put in an improved efficiency. However after a packed festive schedule, a bodily and psychological relaxation will certainly be to ensure that some, with Arsenal successful simply certainly one of their final six in all competitions.
There will probably be some enforced picks, with Jakob Kiwior sure to be in defence with Takehiro Tomiyasu on the Asian Cup and Oleksandr Zinchenko nursing a calf downside. Cup regulars Aaron Ramsdale, Leandro Trossard, Emile Smith Rowe and Jorginho are additionally more likely to get a run out.
Arteta used the Carabao Cup tie at West Ham earlier this season to take key males Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and William Saliba out of the firing line, and an identical method could possibly be on the playing cards right here – regardless of the heavyweight opponents coming to the Emirates.
With a Champions League last-16 tie to stay up for and a Premier League title problem to relaunch, the FA Cup has been nudged down the precedence checklist for Arsenal proper now. However it would nonetheless be a giant recreation for the perimeter gamers handed their probability – and if Liverpool take an identical view, Arteta might properly have his cake and eat it.
Peter Smith
De Bruyne vows to return the ‘greatest participant on this planet’
Manchester Metropolis vs Huddersfield – Sunday, 2pm
“The whole country is starting to shake.” That was the distinctive evaluation of Klopp when Kevin De Bruyne partook in his first touchline warm-up since coming back from damage on the weekend.
There was not a larger cheer amongst Manchester Metropolis supporters all afternoon throughout their routine win over Sheffield United final Saturday. The Belgian has solely performed 23 league minutes this season having undergone surgical procedure on a persistent hamstring downside.
An unused substitute in opposition to the Blades, the go to of Huddersfield to the Etihad Stadium this weekend affords Pep Guardiola the perfect alternative to ease De Bruyne again to full health.
With the Premier League champions not having any gamers away on worldwide responsibility this month, De Bruyne’s return brings with it a double delight.
Heat climate coaching within the Center East for the Membership World Cup has helped the 32-year-old step up the depth of coaching along with his team-mates. De Bruyne has mentioned he’s decided to develop into the “best player in the world”. After 4 months of watching on from the sidelines, he’ll hope to take step one on that journey this weekend in opposition to the Terriers.
Ben Grounds
Elokobi residing Cup dream with Maidstone
Maidstone vs Stevenage – Saturday, 12.30pm
George Elokobi’s love affair with the FA Cup runs deep. When he was a teenager rising up in Cameroon, the previous Wolves centre-back would minimize grass with a machete and chop wooden to earn cash to look at cup matches at a ‘mini cinema’.
The 37-year-old has since performed and scored within the well-known competitors along with his hometown of Kumbu now set to look at his sixth-tier Maidstone United, the lowest-ranked workforce remaining, host League One aspect Stevenage on Saturday lunchtime.
Elokobi has been in everlasting cost of the Nationwide League South membership since final March, his first managerial job after hanging up his boots in 2022 following a profession that took him from non-League to the Premier League with 4 promotions and objectives at each degree.
Maidstone beat League Two high-fliers Barrow to achieve the third spherical for the primary time since reforming in 1992 and a sold-out Gallagher Stadium awaits Elokobi’s subsequent cup journey.
David Richardson
Newcastle can’t lose the ‘one recreation they did not need’
Sunderland vs Newcastle – Saturday, 2.45pm
With only one win from their final eight video games, a cup tie in opposition to lower-league opposition ought to be the right get-right match for Newcastle. However as a substitute, a visit to Sunderland is the “one game they didn’t want”.
That was the view of Gary Neville and it’s straightforward to see why. It’s been almost eight years because the sides final met and Sunderland will welcome Newcastle to the Stadium of Gentle with real perception that they’ll add to their rivals’ woe and create actual doubts over Eddie Howe’s future.
In addition to what is bound to be a raucous environment, Newcastle may even be confronted with overcoming their bafflingly horrible current file in opposition to Sunderland.
The Magpies have didn’t win any of the final 9 conferences between the perimeters, with their final victory coming in August 2011 beneath Alan Pardew.
Fatigue and a crippling checklist of absentees are at all times added as caveats when discussing Newcastle’s troubling type over a busy winter. However they can’t be used as excuses in the event that they fall to a different defeat at Sunderland.
Even with their checklist of injured and suspended gamers, Newcastle’s squad incorporates far larger high quality than that of their second-tier opponents.
A defeat could be essentially the most damaging of Howe’s tenure at St James’ Park and, with Premier League fixtures in opposition to Manchester Metropolis and Aston Villa subsequent up, the longer term would start to look very bleak certainly for the supervisor if his aspect’s ultimate hopes of silverware have been extinguished by their biggest rivals.
Joe Shread
FA Cup final probability for Man Utd success
Wigan vs Man Utd – Monday, 8.15pm
Eighth within the Premier League and 9 factors off the highest 4. A fourth-round Carabao Cup exit and rock-bottom Champions League end. It has been a depressing season for Manchester United and Erik ten Hag, however they’ve one final probability to reserve it.
The FA Cup represents United’s solely hope of successful silverware beneath the Dutchman this yr and, on paper no less than, they’ve a simple passage to the following spherical. There are harder opponents than Wigan Athletic – a workforce sitting seventeenth in League One – however it will be silly to put in writing them off given United’s inconsistency this time period.
Ten Hag’s aspect have misplaced 14 of their 28 video games in all competitions and will probably be in unfamiliar territory once they make the brief journey to the DW Stadium on Monday evening. Will probably be their first away home cup tie since March 2021 – that alone poses a psychological problem.
Throw in the truth that Wigan have progressed from extra FA Cup ties in opposition to Premier League opponents than some other membership from exterior the highest division within the final 10 years – in addition to successful their earlier 5 FA Cup video games performed on a Monday – and the indicators counsel a possible upset could possibly be on the playing cards.
Ten Hag nonetheless has some credit score within the again after delivering United’s first trophy in six years and ending third within the Premier League throughout his debut marketing campaign, however he can’t afford to let his workforce’s dismal type within the second half of 2023 proceed into 2024.
Now, beneath the watchful eye of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS, the stress to carry out is bigger than ever. Successful the FA Cup is the very least he and United should obtain to make this season some kind of success.
Dan Sansom
The place’s the perfect probability of an upset?
Stoke vs Brighton – Saturday, 3pm; Luton vs Bolton – Sunday, 2pm; West Ham vs Bristol Metropolis – Sunday, 2pm
Lots of the FA Cup’s most iconic moments have been written by plucky underdogs, and there are many alternatives for cup upsets this weekend with 12 of the 20 Premier League entrants dealing with lower-league opposition.
With a Europa League knock-out run to return, hopes of a repeat efficiency in 2023/24 and an damage disaster throughout the squad, Brighton will probably be a transparent goal for Championship strugglers Stoke, who’ve slowly begun to show their season round in current weeks.
Roberto De Zerbi’s absentee checklist has hit his squad so severely, each Adam Webster and Pervis Estupinan began Tuesday’s recreation at West Ham regardless of their supervisor admitting neither have been bodily match.
New Potters boss Stephen Schumacher is unbeaten in his 4 video games in cost on the Bet365 Stadium, and held high-flying Ipswich to a goalless draw on New 12 months’s Day.
They are going to have hopes of taking Brighton again to the Amex on the very least, whereas Bolton will likewise consider they’ll get one thing from Kenilworth Highway once they journey to Luton on Sunday.
The Trotters are second in League One and have received their final 4 video games, with 16-goal striker Dion Charles reportedly a goal for numerous Championship golf equipment.
With Rob Edwards’ aspect a degree from security within the Premier League and dealing with an actual battle within the second half of the season, a cup run would be the last item on his thoughts – count on adjustments, and maybe an upset in Bedfordshire.
Championship Bristol Metropolis have been in advantageous type beneath Liam Manning over the festive interval, taking 10 factors from their final 5 and can take greater than 8,000 followers to West Ham on Sunday.
They reached the fifth spherical final season earlier than bowing out to Manchester Metropolis, however have solely crushed one Premier League opposition on this competitors since costing Graeme Souness his position as Liverpool boss all the best way again in 1994.
With the Hammers’ two-week winter break coming immediately after the sport, former Metropolis centre-back David Moyes could also be tempted to subject a powerful aspect, much like the one which drew 0-0 with Brighton on Tuesday – and West Ham have good type within the third spherical, having solely gone out at this stage as soon as within the final decade.
Ron Walker