The first 5 matches in the 5th round have all been won by the away team.

Sunderland trailing Port Vale so will need a comeback to keep the streak going !

45 minutes ago, Caps_Lock_King said:

WATCH ARSENAL DRAW SOUTHAMPTON AT HOME IN QUARTER FINAL

Exactly my thoughts when I saw that result.

We need hem or port vale at home and we need City vs Arsenal or Liverpool vs Arsenal.

We need luck with this draw to have a real chance of winning it.

Arsenal will end up either home or away to Saints or Vale.

We are getting City, or Liverpool.

Heck I'd prefer we get Arsenal than them get another lowerleafue side. As long as it is at the bridge.

1 hour ago, Caps_Lock_King said:

WATCH ARSENAL DRAW SOUTHAMPTON AT HOME IN QUARTER FINAL

Lets change that home to Port Vale

2 hours ago, Caps_Lock_King said:

Lets change that home to Port Vale

Liverpool vs Leeds

Man City vs Chelsea

Arsenal vs Port Vale

Southampton vs Brentford/West Ham

Semi Final

Liverpool vs City/Chelsea

Southampton vs Arsenal

Lady luck loves Arsenal this season.

On 04/03/2026 at 12:36, dkw said:

Jesus, that paints a picture, and its a bloody horrible one.

The vast majority of prem games are awful to watch now, barely anything to get excited about, just risk free tedium interspersed with set piece scrums.

You hear fans from other clubs complaining about the way their teams play all the time. And every time it's about how slow, possession based and risk free it is. . The PL has encouraged the chances of set piece goals at corners and throw ins by completely ignoring fouls. While at the same time looking for any piece of evidence to rule out open play goals..

It's a chore sometimes having to watch what used to be called the ' Beautiful Game,'

On 06/03/2026 at 20:49, Boyne said:

Please let this happen.

Palace fans chanting " say hello to Millwall" at Spurs fans the other night was classic!! 😂

Oh yeah, we're bound to get one of the fecking big guns away from home in the 6th route.

Mind you I couldn't bear it if we got to the final and lost to Arsenal again

3 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

You hear fans from other clubs complaining about the way their teams play all the time. And every time it's about how slow, possession based and risk free it is. . The PL has encouraged the chances of set piece goals at corners and throw ins by completely ignoring fouls. While at the same time looking for any piece of evidence to rule out open play goals..

It's a chore sometimes having to watch what used to be called the ' Beautiful Game,'

True, such polar opposite.

Do whatever you like at set pieces, except be offside.

Open play don't you dare sneeze near the opposition

3 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

You hear fans from other clubs complaining about the way their teams play all the time. And every time it's about how slow, possession based and risk free it is. . The PL has encouraged the chances of set piece goals at corners and throw ins by completely ignoring fouls. While at the same time looking for any piece of evidence to rule out open play goals..

It's a chore sometimes having to watch what used to be called the ' Beautiful Game,'

It's the fact that this distinction is completely legal, baked into the rules as it were, that is making the problem worse. The most influential person in terms of rules reform at FIFA is Arsene Wenger, who despite spending almost three decades pontificating to others about 'style of football', is curiously silent and probably will be until Arsenal is no longer a beneficiary.

Here's my essay from the Arsenal match thread, but the important thing to take is that referees apparently agreed to enforce the rules more strictly on corners prior to this season. The issue is that it is practically impossible without VAR.

@Sconnie Blue @dkw this 2018 study has been cited as the architect of all the set-piece obssession. It found that set-pieces were the great attacking equaliser for lower-tier teams and that teams are almost twice as likely to score from a set-piece than from open play.

The difference is that the rules are set in a way that is deliberately inconsistent from how the game is understood through open play. And as a result, teams are devaluing open play to basically be the passage of time between set pieces.

BBC News - Masked fan unplugs VAR monitor in German match

BBC Sport

VAR: Masked fan unplugs monitor in German second division...

A masked fan unplugged a VAR monitor in a German second division match as the referee was went to the pitchside screen to check a penalty award.

7 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

It's the fact that this distinction is completely legal, baked into the rules as it were, that is making the problem worse. The most influential person in terms of rules reform at FIFA is Arsene Wenger, who despite spending almost three decades pontificating to others about 'style of football', is curiously silent and probably will be until Arsenal is no longer a beneficiary.

Here's my essay from the Arsenal match thread, but the important thing to take is that referees apparently agreed to enforce the rules more strictly on corners prior to this season. The issue is that it is practically impossible without VAR.

@Sconnie Blue @dkw this 2018 study has been cited as the architect of all the set-piece obssession. It found that set-pieces were the great attacking equaliser for lower-tier teams and that teams are almost twice as likely to score from a set-piece than from open play.

The difference is that the rules are set in a way that is deliberately inconsistent from how the game is understood through open play. And as a result, teams are devaluing open play to basically be the passage of time between set pieces.

Wengers next big idea is the ridiculous offside thing, which will make the game almost impossible to defend in from open play, it will be shambolic.

As you say, he and his fans were football purists, until arsenal threw that in the bin and became Stoke on Thames. All those years taking shots at clubs, us included, for daring to play with a defence and yet now they play the worst possible style of football. Bunch of hypocritical imbeciles.

BBC Sport

23 players see red card after mass brawl in Brazilian cup...

"It's regrettable," says former Brazil forward Hulk after becoming one of 23 players are sent off following a mass brawl between Cruzeiro and Atletico Mineiro.

Certainly goes for a whlle

If Spurs do go down we will be 6 points worse off in the league,,,,,,,,,

FA CUP DRAW:

Southampton vs Arsenal

Chelsea vs Port Vale

Man City vs Liverpool

Brentford/West Ham vs Leeds

@Caps_Lock_King you were right first time on arsenal

Do something for us Saints

I dare say all Arsenal need is lady luck to give them the winners of either Brentford/West Ham and Leeds or us vs Port Vale and they will really fancy their chances of another domestic final; given our Spurs esc record against them.

Nothing to complain about with that QF draw whatsoever !

4 hours ago, Boyne said:

BBC Sport

23 players see red card after mass brawl in Brazilian cup...

"It's regrettable," says former Brazil forward Hulk after becoming one of 23 players are sent off following a mass brawl between Cruzeiro and Atletico Mineiro.

This cheered me up immensely 😁 Only 23 sent off? With the subs and the coacing staff there were at least 50 people there, the officials can't possibly have been able to keep track of who deserved a red card. Still, good effort 👍

They must have known we were onto them with those fixed draws. I won't be fooled that easily.

So the conspiracy goes on . Now they give us the easiest team in the draw and hope for a giant killing.

It just never ends

4 hours ago, Boyne said:

BBC Sport

23 players see red card after mass brawl in Brazilian cup...

"It's regrettable," says former Brazil forward Hulk after becoming one of 23 players are sent off following a mass brawl between Cruzeiro and Atletico Mineiro.

The keeper gets pushed head first into the goal post just after it all kicks off. There's a picture of him with a huge lump and blood on the side of the head.

2 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

So the conspiracy goes on . Now they give us the easiest team in the draw and hope for a giant killing.

It just never ends

On the contrary, I'm sure the FA pitied us for our struggle to beat a Championship team, so now they gave us an even lower ranked opponent. So thoughtful!

20 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

So the conspiracy goes on . Now they give us the easiest team in the draw and hope for a giant killing.

It just never ends

Aye, New up for Arsenal winners of Leeds/West ham/Brentford. Unless Port Vale beat us. In which case is Port Vale next.