The FA Cup is currently one of the most important domestic competitions in soccer. After all, the tournament formed way back in 1871 is now the oldest national soccer competition the world. The early rounds of the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/fa-cup-tv-schedule/">FA Cup</a> regularly produce huge upsets and cinderella stories in the sport.



Although a handful matchups of the competition were played earlier in the week, a majority of the FA Cup third round was played on Saturday, January 6th. In fact, 19 total fixtures were played throughout the day across England and Wales. Of the plethora of games, six total <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/premier-league-tv-schedule/">Premier League</a> sides took to the pitch in hopes of advancing to the fourth round.



<h2>Bournemouth, Brighton complete comebacks to win their games</h2>



The early Saturday time slot featured a mouthwatering matchup between bitter rivals <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/sunderland-tv-schedule/">Sunderland</a> and <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/newcastle-united-tv-schedule/">Newcastle</a>. While the Black Cats looked to produce a significant upset at home, the Magpies ended up crushing their rivals 3-0 at the Stadium of Light. The visitors took the lead in the 35th minute thanks to an own goal by Sunderland defender Daniel Ballard. Star striker Alexander Isak then finished off the victory with a second-half brace.



<a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/qpr-tv-schedule-view-rangers-games-on-tv/">Queens Park Rangers</a> looked almost certain to be the first team to knock off a top flight club on the day. The Rs took an early two-goal advantage against <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/bournemouth-tv-schedule-for-us-viewers/">Bournemouth</a> thanks to strikes from Sinclair Armstrong and Lyndon Dykes. Nevertheless, the Cherries stormed back to score three goals in about 20 minutes to win the match. Justin Kluivert netted the eventual winner in the 69th minute.



<a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/brighton-tv-schedule-where-to-watch-the-seagulls/">Brighton</a> also had to come back from a deficit to win their matchup with <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/stoke-city-tv-schedule/">Stoke Cit</a>y as well. Much like Newcastle, the Potters took advantage of an early own goal to take the lead in their game. Brighton, however, then stormed back with four goals to complete the comeback. Joao Pedro scored two late goals to finally give the Seagulls the 4-2 victory.



<h2>Sixth-tiered Maidstone earns biggest upset of the day</h2>



In one of the more heartwarming stories of the day, Maidstone topped Stevenage to advance to the <a href="https://www.thefa.com/news/2024/jan/04/emirates-fa-cup-fourth-round-draw-details-20240104" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fourth round </a>of the competition. The Stones were previously formed back in 1897, but were forced to go through significant changes after bankruptcy in 1992. After a reformation, the semi-professional club eventually progressed through the non-league pyramid.



Maidstone now plays in the sixth-tier of English soccer after being relegated from the National League last season. Despite their struggles, the Stones topped Stevenage by a narrow score of 1-0 on Saturday. Sam Corne scored the only goal of the game with a penalty just before the halftime break.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><figure class="image"><img loading="lazy" width="591" height="861" src="https://ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https://images.worldsoccertalk.com/webp/full/WST_20240106_WST_481785_maidstone-tweet_5bf915e1.webp&amp;width=591&amp;height=861" alt="" class="wp-image-481812" srcset="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/01/maidstone-tweet.jpg 591w, https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/01/maidstone-tweet-206x300.jpg 206w" sizes="(max-width: 591px) 100vw, 591px"></figure></figure>



<a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/chelsea-tv-schedule/">Chelsea</a> and <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/aston-villa-tv-schedule/">Aston Villa</a> also progressed in the competition by beating their opponents on Saturday. Although the Blues started slowly against <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/preston-tv-schedule-follow-the-lilywhites/">Preston North End</a>, the Premier League side eventually scored four second-half goals to easily win the game. Villa, on the other hand, needed a late goal by Matty Cash to win their third-round tie against <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/middlesbrough-tv-schedule-for-us-viewers/">Middlesbrough</a>.



Saturday’s FA Cup third round results (Premier League clubs in bold):



Wimbledon 1 – Ipswich 3



Coventry 6 – Oxford 2



Maidstone 1 – Stevenage 0



Millwall 2 – Leicester 3



Sunderland 0 – Newcastle 3



Blackburn 5 – Cambridge 2



Gillingham 0 – Sheffield United 4



Hull City 1 – Birmingham City 1



Newport County 1 – Eastleigh 1



Norwich City 1 – Bristol Rovers 1



Plymouth Argyle 3 – Sutton United 1



Queens Park Rangers 2 – Bournemouth 3



Southampton 4 – Walsall 0



Stoke City 2 – Brighton &amp; Hove 4



Watford 2 – Chesterfield 1



Chelsea 4 – Preston North End 0



Middlesbrough 0 – Aston Villa 1



Sheffield Wednesday 4 – Cardiff City 0



Swansea City 2 – Morecambe 0



Photo credits: IMAGO / News Images

FA Cup roundup: Several EPL clubs narrowly avoid early exit

Aston Villa, Bournemouth and Brighton all needed late goals to win their FA Cup ties against lower-league opposition

Round two of the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/league-cup-tv-schedule/">English League Cup</a> welcomed 12 teams from the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/premier-league-tv-schedule/">Premier League</a>. Based on league positioning last season, the top eight teams in last season’s Premier League bypassed to the third round. Therefore, <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/chelsea-tv-schedule/">Chelsea</a> joined the League Cup in the second round. <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/tottenham-tv-schedule/">Tottenham Hotspur</a>, on the other hand, also joined. Despite finishing eighth last season, West Ham earned an exemption into the third round because it is competing in Europe.



That proved to be a costly occurrence for Tottenham as it matched up against fellow Premier League side Fulham. Tuesday’s clash was one of two games involving two Premier League foes in the second round. Both came down to the wire, but Spurs’ trip to Craven Cottage was not kind. 



New signing Micky Van de Ven put the ball into his own net to put Tottenham behind after 19 minutes. However, Richarlison leveled the game early in the second half. Neither side could find a breakthrough for the remaining half-hour of the 90. Therefore, the game went straight into penalties. Spurs center-back Davinson Sánchez was the only player to miss a penalty, allowing Tottenham to advance via a shootout. Despite the strong start to Premier League play, Spurs’ wait for a trophy will at least go on a little bit longer, as it is out of the League Cup.



Tottenham was not alone in struggling in the League Cup second round, though. Chelsea, Burnley, Everton and Crystal Palace all faced stiff tests.




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<h2>League Cup round two yields drama</h2>



That Nottingham Forest-Burnley game was the other top-flight matchup in the second round. This game also went about to the wire, as Burnley left it late on the road. A scoreless affair led to Zeiki Amdouni scoring the only goal of the game in the 90th minute. Nottingham Forest, a semifinalist last season, exits the competition after just one game.



Everton and Chelsea had two similar games, as both barely managed 2-1 wins. Everton played away to Doncaster Rovers. Entering this game, Doncaster has one point through five games in League Two. As a result, it sits bottom of the English Football League. Everton has not had smooth sailing either, as it sits bottom of the Premier League after three games. Doncaster’s Joe Ironside gave the hosts the lead just before the halftime break. 



Everton’s newest signing, Beto, drew the Toffees level. Then, another new signing, Arnaut Danjuma, provided Everton with the lead. Despite holding on for that one-goal win, Everton looked dismal against one of the worst teams in the fourth tier. Sean Dyche has serious work to do if Everton is to turn these early-season struggles around.



Chelsea knows a thing or two about struggling over the last season. Much like Everton, Mauricio Pochettino’s side found itself trailing in the first half at home to AFC Wimbledon, another fourth-tier club. Noni Madueke’s penalty in first-half stoppage time at least got the Blues back on track. Then, Enzo Fernandez scored in the 72nd minute. Like Everton, Chelsea held on to its one-goal lead to see off a fourth-tier team.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-twitter"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Enzo Fernandez scores his first Chelsea goal just seven minutes off the bench 👏 <a href="https://t.co/QLiYNbM9jF">pic.twitter.com/QLiYNbM9jF</a>— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1696982654023770392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2023</a></blockquote></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<h5>EFL Cup third-round draw</h5>



With the 24 second-round games concluding, the Carabao Cup third-round draw happened on Wednesday. The other 12 teams from the Premier League join the 24 winners from Tuesday and Wednesday’s games. There are some incredible matchups in this early stage of the competition. For instance, there are five games involving two Premier League foes. The pick of the bunch is either Newcastle hosting Manchester City or Brighton traveling to Chelsea. 



Ipswich vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers Exeter vs. Luton Town Aston Villa vs. Everton Manchester United vs. Crystal Palace Port Vale vs. Sutton Bradford vs. Middlesbrough Bournemouth vs. Stoke City Lincoln vs. West Ham Brentford vs. Arsenal Chelsea vs. Brighton Salford vs. Burnley Fulham vs. Norwich City Blackburn vs. Cardiff Liverpool vs. Leicester City Newcastle vs. Manchester City Mansfield vs. Peterborough



The third round is scheduled for the week beginning Monday, Sep. 25. Coverage is available on <a href="https://go.web.plus.espn.com/mWebq" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ESPN+</a>.



PHOTO: IMAGO / Sportsphoto

League Cup round two recap: Premier League clubs scrape by

Round two of the English League Cup welcomed 12 teams from the Premier League, and not all of them found much success.

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FA Cup roundup: Several EPL clubs narrowly avoid early exit

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League Cup round two recap: Premier League clubs scrape by