The FA Cup action continued across England with Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves) holding defending champions Liverpool to a draw on their turf while Newcastle United was stunned in its fixture.
Wolves vs Liverpool in FA Cup:
Goncalo Guedes and Hwang Hee-Chan’s goals for Wolves were cancelled out by Darwin Nunez and Mohamad Salah as the two sides played to a stalemate in a controversy-filled game.
A late goal by Toti Gomes was ruled out by the assistant referee but VAR failed to overturn the decision due to a lack of a camera angle and allowed the verdict to stand much to boss Julen Lopetegui’s anger.
The game itself was not a dull affair.
Cody Gakpo handed his first start, failed to rejuvenate Liverpool’s offence early as the home side fell behind in the 26th minute after a slew of errors. Alisson passed the ball straight to Guedes who easily fired a shot past the goalkeeper for the game’s first goal.
Nunez resorted parity for the hosts despite any indication of it forthcoming when he volleyed a perfectly placed Trent Alexander-Arnold ball past Matija Šarkić.
Salah then put Liverpool ahead early in the second half in another controversial decision by VAR.
The forward appeared to be offside when Toti’s attempted header fell to him and the Egyptian scored unchallenged and the goal was allowed to stand which it should not have according to the rules.
But Liverpool’s lapsed defending once again cost them when Hwang Hee-Chan scored to make it 2-2 in the 66th minute.
The game then looked certain to end in a draw until that fateful call by VAR was made late on.
Wolves and Liverpool will now play this FA Cup tie again at Molineux.
Newcastle vs Sheffield Wednesday:
Josh Windass scored twice to help Sheffield Wednesday earn one of the biggest upsets in the FA Cup with a win over third-placed Premier League side Newcastle.
Eddie Howe’s men dominated every facet of the game except the goal totals and managed just one through Bruno Guimarães during the 2-1 loss.
In other results, Southampton, Leicester City, Tottenham, Blackpool, Fulham, Brighton and West Ham were among the winners.
