United scrape past Norwich, Arsenal beat Norwich, Barkley pips Leicester and City beat Newcastle
- FA Cup resumed this weekend
- United, Arsenal and Chelsea through to the semi-finals
- Mental Health and Psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic
The FA Cup returned on Saturday and Sunday as eight teams battled for a place in the semi-finals.
English’s oldest domestic competition resumed on Saturday after a three month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Norwich hosted Manchester United at Carrow Road in the solitary fixture on Saturday. Arsenal traveled to Sheffield United as Chelsea took on top four rivals Leicester City.
Norwich vs Manchester United
Relegation threatened Canaries entertained a resurged United side that is hunting domestic glory that has eluded them since 2015.
Paul Pogba started on the bench, with Bruno Fernandes pairing with Juan Mata in midfield, behind sole striker Odion Ighalo who was giving a start.
The Nigerian opened the scoring in the 51st minute when he pounced on a loose ball in Norwich’s box before putting a shot behind Tim Krul to give United a deserved lead.
Norwich equalized in the 75th minute through Todd Cantwell who perfectly collected a pass on the edge of United’s penalty area and produced a nice strike into the bottom right corner past Argentine Sergio Romero.
Norwich were reduced to 10-men in the 89th minute when Timm Klose was given marching orders by Jon Moss for a horror tackle.
The match proceeded to Extra time and Harry Maguire won the match deep into extra time when he fired a rebound into the bottom right corner.
Sheffield United vs Arsenal
Sheffield United hosted an Arsenal side that is desperate for domestic success after a torrid restart in the Premier League.
Sheffield thought they had opened the scoring in the 8th minute through John Lundstram before a VAR review ruled that there was an offside in the build to the goal.
Arsenal won a penalty in the 23rd minute when Sheffield’s Chris Basham was adjudged to have been guilty of a foul in the penalty area. Nicolas Pepe took the spot-kick responsibility and put the ball into the bottom right corner to give Mikel Arteta’s side the lead.
The Blades equalized through David McGoldrick in the 87th minute and it looked all set to head into extra time.
Real Madrid loanee Dani Ceballos gave Arsenal the win deep into stoppage time when he picked a pass from Pepe before releasing a decisive shot past a charging Dean Henderson.
Leicester vs Chelsea
The Foxes hosted the Blues at King Power Stadium as the two top four rivals clashed for a spot in the last four of the FA Cup.
A below par performance in the first half led Frank Lampard to making three half-time changes.
Substitute Ross Barkley repaid the manager’s faith with a goal in the 63rd minute when he received a cross from Willian and struck a shot into the bottom left corner.
Newcastle United vs Manchester City
The Magpies hosted a wounded City side that had just lost a Premier League game against Chelsea on Thursday, a result that crowned Liverpool as Champions.
Belgian playmaker Kevin De Bruyne put City ahead in the 37th minute from the spot after Newcastle’s Fabian Schar was guilty for a foul.
Dwight Gayle came close to equalizing for Newcastle in the second half, minutes before City doubled their lead through Raheem Sterling.