Newcastle was shocked by League Two side Stevenage in the FA Cup third-round as they were one of four Premier League sides knocked out of the cup at the hands of lowly opposition.
Despite Newcastle making five changes from the side that routed West Ham in midweek, it was still a strong side that went down 3-1 at Stevenage. While Stevenage is 15th in League Two, Newcastle is eighth in the Premier League.
Sunderland’s 2-1 loss to third-tier Notts County allowed Paul Ince to prevail over former Manchester United teammate Steve Bruce, whose Sunderland side was sixth in the topflight. Craig Westcarr and Lee Hughes scored for Notts County before Darren Bent pulled one back from the penalty spot for Sunderland, which rested several first-team regulars.
Blackpool went down 2-0 at third-tier Southampton with Lee Barnard and Guly Do Prado the stars for the Saints as Bklackpool paid the price for fielding a weakened team.
West Bromwich lost 1-0 away to Championship side Reading, to continue the Baggies horrendous run of bad-form recently. Reading striker Shane Long scored the only goal while West Brom had Jonas Olsson sent off, meaning he will miss the big six-pointer against Blackpool next weekend.
Leeds looked set to follow last season’s victory over Manchester United by knocking our Arsenal, but Cesc Fabregas canceled out Robert Snodgrass’ spot kick with one of his own in the 90th minute to earn a 1-1 draw.
Stoke and Wolverhampton will also have to contest replays, but Premier League rivals Aston Villa, Birmingham, Blackpool, Bolton, Everton, Fulham, West Ham and Wigan all secured places in Sunday’s fourth-round draw.
Wolves could not follow up their midweek league win over Chelsea at Doncaster. Stephen Hunt’s spot kick salvaged a draw for the visitors before having George Elokobi sent off for a challenge on James Coppinger. Doncaster led 2-1 at halftime after Billy Sharp and James Hayter scored twice in as many minutes to cancel out Nenad Milijas’ opener for Wolves.
Stoke also faces a replay after Tuncay Sanli canceled out Michael Chopra’s goal for Cardiff to earn a 1-1 draw.
Goals from Kyle Walker Marc Albrighton and Stiliyan Petrov clinched a 3-1 victory at Sheffield United for Aston Villa, which had Ashley Young sent off.
Late goals from Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander ended non-league York’s Cinderella dreams, while Everton finally scored some goals routing League Championship Scunthorpe 5-1. Fulham crushed Peterborough 6-2, with Diomansy Kamara scoring a hat trick.
West Ham eased the pressure on Avram Grant as they beat Barnsley 2-0 thanks to goals from Jonathan Spector and Frederic Piquionne. Birmingham won 4-1 at Millwall, Blackburn beat Championship leader Queens Park Rangers 1-0 win and Wigan edged Hull 3-2.
