Arsenal remain on course for a third consecutive FA Cup success after Alexis Sanchez inspired Arsene Wenger’s side to a 2-1 fourth-round win over second-tier Burnley on Saturday.
Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur also progressed, but West Bromwich Albion were taken to a replay by third-tier Peterborough United and Liverpool drew 0-0 with West Ham United.
Arsenal’s win at the Emirates Stadium preserved their hopes of becoming the first team to win three consecutive FA Cups since Blackburn Rovers, who achieved the feat between 1883-1884 and 1885-1886.
Photo: Reuters
“We would love to do it, but there is a long way to go,” said Wenger, who gave a debut to Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Elneny and also welcomed back holding midfielder Francis Coquelin.
“For the first 20 minutes we looked quite in control, but when they equalized suddenly you could see energy, commitment, and we had to dig deep to win the game,” he said.
Making his first start after two months out with a hamstring injury, Chilean star Sanchez teed up Calum Chambers to open the scoring in the 19th minute with a fine shot using the outside of his right foot.
Photo: Reuters
Sam Vokes equalized for Burnley on the half-hour mark with a powerful header, but Arsenal, who made nine changes, claimed the victory in the 53rd minute when Sanchez slammed home after a neat team move.
Nigerian starlet Kelechi Iheanacho scored a hat-trick as Manchester City kept alive their dream of an unprecedented quadruple of trophies by easing to a 4-0 win at Aston Villa, last season’s beaten finalists.
Iheanacho opened the scoring in the fourth minute, following in to score after Fernando’s header was cleared off the line, and the 19-year-old forward added a second with a 24th-minute penalty.
He completed his hat-trick with 16 minutes remaining, seizing on Idrissa Gueye’s calamitous back-pass and surging through to score, before Raheem Sterling added a fourth.
“Kelechi is a very good young player,” City manager Manuel Pellegrini said. “We let [Stevan] Jovetic and [Edin] Dzeko go because I see Kelechi every day and know what he can do.”
City are second in the Premier League, face Dynamo Kiev in the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 and are due to take on Liverpool in the League Cup final on Feb. 28.
Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool were taken to an unwelcome replay by West Ham, who had previously beaten them twice in the league.
Showing 10 changes, Liverpool dominated proceedings at Anfield, but could find no way past West Ham stand-in goalkeeper Darren Randolph.
Spurs breezed through, Nacer Chadli scoring twice on his 100th appearance, while Eric Dier and Tom Carroll also found the net in a 4-1 win at third-tier strugglers Colchester United.
Liverpool beat Stoke City on penalties to reach the League Cup final on Tuesday last week and Mark Hughes’ men met with fresh cup disappointment four days later as they lost 1-0 at Crystal Palace, with Wilfried Zaha scoring.
Portsmouth, FA Cup winners in 2008, but now languishing in the fourth division, were in sight of a major upset when Gary Roberts put them ahead in the 43rd minute of their meeting with southcoast rivals AFC Bournemouth, but Josh King equalized for Eddie Howe’s side with a 71st-minute header before Marc Pugh secured a 2-1 win.
Saido Berahino’s brace was not enough for West Brom, who drew 2-2 with Peterborough, but Odion Ighalo’s late strike earned Watford a 1-0 victory at Championship side Nottingham Forest.
Fourth-tier Oxford United could not repeat their third-round win over Swansea City, losing 3-0 at home to Blackburn Rovers, but third-division Shrewsbury Town stunned Championship side Sheffield Wednesday 3-2.
Leeds United won 2-1 away at Bolton Wanderers, Reading thrashed Walsall 4-0 and Hull City won 3-1 away at Bury.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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