Feature

FA Cup: Liverpool knocked out, Villa and Wolves go through

By Ninad Barbadikar 9 Feb 2025

Ninad Barbadikar reports on a shock fourth-round exit for Arne Slot's side and wins for two Midlands clubs

Football writer Ninad Barbadikar analyses Sunday's FA Cup fourth-round action involving Premier League teams.

Plymouth Argyle 1-0 Liverpool

The side at the bottom of the Championship knocked out the Premier League leaders as Plymouth Argyle produced the shock of the fourth round, beating Liverpool in an unforgettable FA Cup tie at Home Park.

Arne Slot made 10 changes to his starting line-up, with 17-year-old Trey Nyoni selected in the XI for the first time, while senior players including Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch did not feature in the squad.

Despite fielding a strong front three of Federico Chiesa, Luis Diaz, and Diogo Jota, Liverpool only produced four shots on target.

Miron Muslic’s Pilgrims, who have only won once in the Championship in the last three months, were rewarded for their resistance when Ryan Hardie put them ahead from the penalty spot, after Harvey Elliott handled the ball.

Watch: Hardie’s penalty v Liverpool

Liverpool’s struggles in the match were underlined in the Expected Goals (xG) figures; they accumulated an open-play xG of just 0.44, their lowest in a game under Slot so far. As for overall xG, Argyle's was higher - 1.23 to Liverpool’s 1.00 - despite having just 25 per cent of the possession.

Argyle goalkeeper Conor Hazard produced two outstanding saves towards the end to prevent both Jota and Jarell Quansah from rescuing the tie. Plymouth's clean sheet belied them having them the worst defensive record in the Championship this season, with 63 goals conceded in 30 matches.

With this win, Plymouth have become the first side from a lower division to eliminate the Premier League's top team since Wigan Athletic knocked out Manchester City in February 2018.

This is the first time in 41 years that Liverpool have exited the FA Cup against lower-league opposition whilst being top of the table; in January 1984, they lost to Brighton & Hove Albion, who were then in the second tier.

"Great game from Plymouth. They deserve all the credit. But we did not have a very good day. The result is the outcome," said a gracious Slot, after his side's defeat.

With the quadruple dream now over, after only their fourth loss under the Dutchman in all competitions, Liverpool will be determined to get back to winning ways in Wednesday's Merseyside derby. The trip to Everton, rearranged from earlier this season, is their game in hand over Arsenal in the Premier League title race.

See: Liverpool report

Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Wolves

Vitor Pereira’s Wolverhampton Wanderers followed up a big Premier League win over Midlands rivals Aston Villa with this FA Cup victory against Blackburn Rovers to seal their progress to the fifth round.

Two goals in two first-half minutes was enough for Wolves in the end, with Joao Gomes and Matheus Cunha getting on the scoresheet, the latter celebrating his goal after signing a new contract with the club recently.

The Brazilian produced a superb all-round display, becoming the first player across the top five leagues in Europe to register five or more shots on target and five or more tackles in the same match.

Watch: Cunha's goal

Pereira made five changes for this tie, with January signing Marshall Munetsi making his debut off the bench in the second half.

Hwang Hee-chan limped off in the first half, adding to Pereira’s injury headaches in forward areas, with Jorgen Strand Larsen still on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury.

Wolves are next in action against leaders Liverpool, on Sunday 16 February, as they aim to move further clear of the relegation zone.

See: Wolves report

Aston Villa 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur

Unai Emery’s Aston Villa piled further misery on Tottenham Hotspur, edging them 2-1 at Villa Park to knock them out of a second cup competition in the space of four days while they progress to the fifth round for the first time in a decade.

Villa needed only 57 seconds to open the scoring after Antonin Kinsky made a mess of saving a shot from Jacob Ramsey, who now has four goal involvements in the past four matches in all competitions.

Goalless in in his previous four games, Son Heung-min had the chance to level after 22 minutes but the Spurs captain aimed his close-rang shot from Mikey Moore's cross too close to Emiliano Martinez.

The impressive Morgan Rogers doubled Villa’s lead in the second half to cap another excellent performance. The 22-year-old assisted Ramsey's opener and now has 17 goal involvements in all competitions this season.

Spurs rallied late on and gave themselves hope when January loan signing Mathys Tel, making his first start, pulled a goal back in stoppage time.

However, Tel's first strike for the club was ultimately in vain as Ange Postecoglou's side exited a cup competition for the second match in a row after losing to Liverpool in the EFL Cup semi-finals on Thursday night.

This leaves the UEFA Europa League as the only competition which could salvage the Australian’s hunt for a second-season trophy.

"We’ve had a small group of players playing twice a week since the middle of November," said Postecoglou after the match, referring to Spurs' long injury list.

"They’ll get an opportunity to recover now and we’ll get some players back now in the next couple of weeks. We’ll look forward to resetting and finish the season strongly."

Spurs' next fixture is at home to Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday 16 February.

A first-half injury to Ezri Konsa was the only blow for Villa, who had new arrivals Donyell Malen and Andres Garcia both starting, in attack and at full-back respectively.

Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio later impressed on their Villa debuts off the bench but Axel Disasi was cup-tied.

Villa will next be in action on 15 February, when they will host Ipswich Town in the league.

Watch: Ramsey's goal |Rogers’ goal | Tel’s goal
See: Villa report | Spurs report