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The FA Cup is English football’s most prestigious trophy; first played during the 1871-72 season, the competition often throws up something special each year as Premier League sides mix it with lower league – and sometimes, non-league – clubs in a bid to walk out at Wembley.
This season’s FA Cup see’s Man City as 13/8 favourites with online casinos and betting sites, followed by Liverpool who are 7/1.
Here are some of the greatest FA Cup fourth round upsets in recent years.
Hull City 0-1 Crawley Town, 2012
League Two Crawley Town stunned Championship side Hull City as a second-half goal from Matt Tubbs was enough to send Town through to the last 16.
Steve Evans’ side were a non-league outfit the season before, but outlined just how far they had come with a dominant display in which Hull were simply no match for them.
Oldham Athletic 3-2 Liverpool, 2013
Matt Smith was the hero as Oldham Athletic belied their League One status with a shock triumph over Premier League Liverpool.
Smith’s header sent Oldham into the lead before Reds captain Luis Suarez notched an equaliser, but Smith and Reece Wabara both found the net to hand Oldham a two-goal advantage. Joe Allen replied for Liverpool, but Paul DIckov’s side held on for an incredible upset at Boundary Park.
Chelsea 2-4 Bradford City, 2015
Chelsea were current Premier League leaders and unbeaten at Stamford Bridge as League One Bradford City came to town in 2015. And, that record looked to be safe as goals from Gary Cahill and Ramires gave the home side a 2-0 lead.
But, Jon Stead finished nicely just before half-time to give City a glimmer hope. And, second-half goals from Filipe Morais, Andy Halliday and Mark Yeates completed an outrageous and almost unbelievable comeback.
The scale of Bradford’s victory can be measured against the fact that Chelsea lost just one more home game that season, and Bradford were as high as 250/1 at half time with the best new zealand online casino and bookies to come back and win.
Oxford United 3-0 Newcastle United, 2017
High-flying Championship side Newcastle United travelled to League One side Oxford United for this fourth round tie. The two sides played out a mundane first-half which ended 0-0, but Oxford came out for the second-half full of vim and vigour.
A goal from Kane Hemmings just after the break sent Oxford into the lead and two late goals from Curtis Nelson and Toni Martinez – after Aleksandar Mitrovic had missed a penalty for the Magpies – completed a shock result as the Kassam Stadium was left rocking.
Lincoln City 3-1 Brighton & Hove Albion, 2017
Non-league Lincoln City reached the FA Cup last 16 for the first time in 115 years with a magnificent victory over runaway Championship leaders Brighton – who lost to a non-league side for the first time since 1998.
Brighton took the lead through Richie Towell in the first-half, but the second was all Lincoln. Alan Power scored from the spot before Fikayo Tomori netted at the wrong end. And, the onslaught was complete when Theo Robinson romped home for a third, sending Sincil Bank into delirium.
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