FA Cup 2014-15 Third Round Results Round-up: No shocks for Barclays Premier League giants as Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United secure fourth round berth

Steven Gerrard rescued Wimbledon against Liverpool as Manchester United beat Yeovil Town, Chelsea overcame Watford. Manchester City struggled but managed to win over Sheffield Wednesday while defending champions Arsenal beat Hull City in the third round of the FA Cup 2014-15.

There were no shocks for the Barclays Premier League giants in the FA Cup as Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal all sailed through to the fourth round on Saturday. The Red Devils, who were knocked out in the third round last year by Swansea City, were in action against Yeovil Town while their city rivals welcomed Sheffield Wednesday to the Etihad. Chelsea were up against Championship side Watford while holders Arsenal – having something to finally defend – faced Hull City in a repeat of last year’s final.

Liverpool needed a vintage performance from Steven Gerrard to bail them out in the FA Cup third round clash against Wimbledon on Monday night at the Kingsmeadow. The 34-year-old scored opened the scoring only to see it cancelled out by the ‘Beast’ Adebayo Akinfenwa following Simon Mignolet’s failure to collect the ball from a corner.

Once again, it was Gerrard who had to come up with the goods as the former England international scored from a fine free-kick in the 62nd minute. The Liverpool legend recently announced that he will be leaving at the end of the season; thereby putting an end to a 26 year association with his boyhood club. And it certainly seemed to have derailed his teammates’ morale as they were pegged at the back by the League two outfit. Brednan Rodgers’ side will now face Bolton Wanderers in the fourth round at Anfield on in a fortnight’s time.

Meanwhile, Turf Moor witnessed a lacklustre performance between Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur. Both Premier League outfits played out a 1-1 draw that witnessed neither side managing to take a single attempt on either goal. The game did spring to life a little as Nacer Chadli scored his second goal in as many matches to put the north London club into the lead. However, Sam Vokes restored parity to seal a replay for Sean Dyche’s Clarets.

Manchester City were the first among the quartet to kick-off on Sunday night but they were in for a shocker. Atdhe Nuhiu put the Owls into the lead in the 14th minute but were undone by James Milner’s brace in the second-half to help Manuel Pellegrini’s side prevent a replay. The England international who turned 29 celebrated his birthday in style by scoring in the 66th minute before conjuring the winner in the 90th minute to secure a 2-1 win.

At Huish Park, Louis van Gaal opted to field a considerably strong lineup with David de Gea, Chris Smalling, Rafael da Silva, Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw, Wayne Rooney and Radamel Falcao all starting. After struggling to find a breakthrough in the first-half, the Dutch coach brought on Angel di Maria, Juan Mata and Jonny Evans for the second-half and that proved to the turning point.

Herrera scored his third goal in all competitions for Man Utd this season while Di Maria, who cleared Joe Edwards’ header off the line, made it 2-0 before the final whistle.

Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho’s side needed a second-half injection of strength to register a 3-0 win over Watford at Stamford Bridge. Willian, Loic Remy and Kurt Zouma netted in the 58th, 70th and 72nd minute respectively to help Chelsea beat the Hornets for the seventh time on the trot in all competitions.

At the Emirates, Arsenal embarked on their title defence with a comfortable victory against Hull City. Alexis Sanchez scored his 16th goal of the season in all competitions as Per Mertesacker’s 20th minute header capped a 2-0 triumph for Arsene Wenger’s side.

Southampton struggled but managed to earn a replay against Ipswich Town after holding the Championship side to a 1-1 draw at St Mary’s. Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool are the only other EPL teams yet to play their FA Cup ties face trips to Burnley and Wimbledon respectively on Monday evening.

Other Results

Friday (2/1/2015)

Cardiff City 3-1 Colchester United (Joe Ralls, Kadeem Harris, Kenwyne Jones – Fred Sears)

Saturday (5/1/2015)

Charlton Athletic 1-2 Blackburn Rovers (Johann Berg Gudmundsson – Chris Taylor x 2)

Rochdale 1-0 Nottingham Forest (Peter Vincenti)

West Bromwich Albion 7-0 Gateshead (Saido Berahino x 4, Victor Anichebe, Chris Brunt, James Morrison)

Blyth Spartans 2-3 Birmingham City (Robert Dale x 2 – Le Novak, Wesley Thomas x 2)

Rotherham United 1-5 Bournemouth (Richard Brindley – Shaun Macdonald, Junior Stanislas, Ryan Fraser, Yann Kermoorgant x 2)

Huddersfield Town 0-1 Reading (Nick Blackman)

Tranmere Rovers 2-6 Swansea City (Max Power, Cole Stockton – Nathan Dyer, Tom Carroll, Modou Barrow, Wayne Routledge, Bafetimbi Gomis x 2)

Bolton Wanderers 1-0 Wigan Athletic (Zach Clough)

Derby County 1-0 Southport (Chris Martin)

Brentford 0-2 Brighton & Hove Albion (Lewis Dunk, Chris O’Grady)

Leicester City 1-0 Newcastle United (Leonardo Ulloa)

Cambridge United 2-1 Luton Town (Robbie Simpson, Ryan Donaldson – Michael Harriman)

Barnsley 0-2 Middlesbrough (Jelle Vossen, Daniel Ayala)

Preston North End 2-0 Norwich City (Paul Gallagher x 2)

Fulham 0-0 Wolverhampton

Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Bristol City (Luke McCullough – Matt Smith)

Millwall 3-3 Bradford City (Scott Mcdonald, Ricardo Fuller x 2 – Sid Nelson*, Billy Knott x 2)

Sunday (4/1/2015)

Dover Athletic 0-4 Crystal Palace (Scott Dann x 2, Dwight Gayle, Kevin Doyle)

Sunderland 1-0 Leeds United (Patrick van Aanholt)

Queens Park Rangers 0-3 Sheffield United (Mark McNulty, Jamal Campbell x 2)

Stoke City 3-1 Wrexham (Marko Arnautovic, Stephen Ireland x 2 – Mark Carrington)

Aston Villa 1-0 Blackpool (Christian Benteke)

Southampton 1-1 Ipswich Town (Morgan Schneiderlin – Darren Ambrose)

Monday (5/1/2015)

Burnley 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Sam Vokes – Nacer Chadli)

Wimbledon 1-2 Liverpool (Adebayo Akinfenwa – Steven Gerrard x 2)