What’s Hot and What’s Not from the FA Cup fourth round weekend

NOT – Those that made wholesale changes

Several Premier League and Championship sides that changed the vast majority of their starting eleven paid the price with an FA Cup exit over the weekend.

Claude Puel made ten changes to his Southampton team that lost 5-0 against Arsenal, with Arsene Wenger himself changing ten of his starting line-up, while the likes of Liverpool (nine), Watford (seven), Crystal Palace (six), and Hull (six) all made wholesale changes, and then went out of the cup.

Championship high-flyers Newcastle, Brighton, and Leeds also rotated their sides, with the latter making ten changes to the others’ nine, with clearly the chance of promotion to the Premier League a greater incentive than potential FA Cup glory.

Nonetheless, it clearly shows where the world’s oldest club competition ranks in terms of priority, and you sense that the FA Cup needs a shake-up of some sort to re-establish its glamour and prestige amongst many clubs around the country.