Man Utd land Leicester; Liverpool face Plymouth

This year’s FA Cup third round may not have been littered with shocks, but that only raises the stakes for the next glut of fixtures.

Liverpool and Chelsea both swatted aside League Two foes, while Manchester City rattled in eight unanswered goals at home to Salford City. Tottenham Hotspur eventually overcame non-league Tamworth with three goals in extra time after a nervy, scoreless, opening 90 minutes.

However, top-flight Brentford were felled by Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle, who have been pitted against Arne Slot’s Premier League leaders, Liverpool in the fourth round.

Arsenal and Manchester United duked out the glamour tie of the third round, with the Red Devils prevailing on penalties despite playing with ten men for more than an hour to set up a tie against Leicester City next month.

Here’s everything you need to know about a fourth round which may be a little more explosive.

Fans of England’s oldest cup competition will have to wait until February for its next instalment. The 16 fourth-round fixtures are set to be dotted across the weekend of Saturday, 8 February.

As was the case for the third round, ties may very well be scheduled from that Thursday to Monday. As the concept of replays have been banished to the realm of away goals and the back-pass rule, all ties are set to be concluded on the day they began.

VAR can’t win. When the controversial refereeing system is in place, hours upon hours are wasted debating the merits of the decisions made by those at Stockley Park. In the event that the technology is not rolled out – as was the case for the third round of the cup – the powers that be are criticised for its absence.

Nevertheless, FA Cup referees won’t be able to call upon the backing of VAR for the fourth round. In what smacks of an entirely arbitrary decision, video assistance will not be used until the fifth round of the cup.

READ THE LATEST FA CUP NEWS, PREVIEWS & RATINGS HERE