🏆 FA Cup Awards: Player, Team, Goal and Surprise of the Weekend | OneFootball

The FA Cup third round weekend offered up its usual mix of brilliant drama and stunning upsets.

Now it’s time to hand out our awards.

Player of the Weekend

Martin Keown described Trent Alexander-Arnold as “Steven Gerrard-esque” following the BBC’s coverage of Liverpool’s win over Arsenal on Sunday.

But what really stood out to us at the Emirates during the Reds 2-0 win was just how complete a player Alexander-Arnold has become over the past six months.

The England international’s technical ability and range of passing has never been in doubt but those old question marks over his defensive acumen have finally been answered.

TAA was the best player on the pitch in north London, spearheading a win for the Merseyside outfit which, as the post-match scenes proved, pleased coach Jürgen Klopp more than most.

With a raft of injuries, Liverpool went to their Premier League title rivals and came away with a backs-to-the-wall win.

It puts the Merseyside outfit into the hat for the fourth round and also gives them a psychological edge going into the second part of the Premier League campaign.

Team of the Weekend

Goal of the Weekend

Simply put – there was no better goal scored this weekend or perhaps any weekend so far this season in English football.

Patrick Bamford has endured a torrid time of it this term, struggling with injury at the start of the campaign and only getting his first start on New Year’s Day.

The 30-year-old has now score two goals in his last two games though with this latest effort – in Leeds’ 3-0 win over Peterborough – probably the best of his career to date.

A strike even Marco van Basten would be proud of.

Result of the Weekend

There can be no doubt that the result of this third round weekend came at the Gallagher Stadium as National League South side Maidstone United beat League One’s Stevenage.

Maidstone – competing in the sixth tier of the English football pyramid – were the lowest ranked team left in the competition going into Saturday’s game, but played with a level-headed majority that belied their league position.

Former Wolves midfielder George Elokobi is the Stones boss and he masterminded a brilliant win that saw the Kent club made it to the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history.

All eyes will be on the south coast when the draw for the next round is made later on Monday.

Surprise of the Weekend

Perhaps not a surprise in the end result but certainly a surprise in how easy the win actually was.

Sunderland were hosting their bitter rivals Newcastle for the first time in eight years on Saturday with the Stadium of Light faithful producing an atmosphere for the ages.

Instead of fuelling the Blacks Cats young side though, Michael Beale’s men looked inhibited by the noise and expectation and struggled to cope with the Toon’s energy and press.

An own goal from Dan Ballard put the hosts a goal down in the first half before an Alexander Isak double in the second half secured Newcastle’s safe passage into the next round.

Stat of the Weekend

Manchester City started their defence of the FA Cup in the best possible way on Sunday as they cruised past Championship strugglers Huddersfield.

It took a while for the Terriers defensive dam to burst but once it did, City flooded the visitors’ net with chance after chance after chance.

In the end Pep Guardiola’s side won 5-0 with the fifth strike making it 50 goals in the FA Cup for the Catalan coach since his arrival back in 2017.

Averaged out, that’s a genuinely astonishing 4.1 per game.

Quote of the Weekend

Ange Postecoglou’s friendly, Aussie demeanour has lasted all of five months at Tottenham.

The no-nonsense Spurs boss was a media darling at the start of his tenure but the the 58-year-old’s patience for sometimes probing, sometimes inane, questions has proved too much in recent weeks.

The latest example came on Friday night when Ange was asked about Eric Dier’s absence from their win over Burnley and his potential switch to Bayern Munich.

“Yeah, he’s injured. He just pulled up sore, didn’t train yesterday,” the Aussie boss said.

Pressed on the links between Dier and Bayern Munich, Postecoglou replied: “Separate issue, mate, but don’t question my integrity when I say he’s injured. He’s injured, didn’t train yesterday.

“Ask him, but he was injured, got nothing to do with anything else.

“I’ve got no idea [about Bayern]. It’s of no interest. When you ask me whether he’s injured, he’s injured. Like I didn’t make that up.”