Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all reached the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, though none of them had it entirely straightforward. Arsenal survived a genuine scare at Field Mill in Mansfield, eventually coming through 2-1 thanks to a superb second-half intervention from substitute Eberechi Eze, whose thunderous top-corner finish ended League One Mansfield’s FA Cup adventure in the fifth round for the first time since 1975. Mikel Arteta named two 16-year-olds in his starting lineup — including Max Dowman, who became Arsenal’s youngest ever FA Cup player — with Noni Madueke putting the Gunners ahead before Mansfield’s Will Evans equalised with a half-time introduction. Eze, who scored the winning goal in Crystal Palace’s FA Cup final triumph last season, settled the tie and kept Arsenal’s quadruple pursuit on course.
At the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, Chelsea required extra time to overcome the Hollywood-owned Championship side 4-2 in a match that lived up to its billing as one of the ties of the round. Wrexham led through Sam Smith’s 18th-minute strike and came agonisingly close to causing one of the competition’s great upsets. A red card for George Dobson in added time forced Wrexham to defend extra time with ten men, and Alejandro Garnacho made the difference in the 96th minute. A header from Brunt appeared to draw the sides level again but VAR ruled it fractionally offside, and Pedro Neto killed off the tie in the fifth minute of added time. Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson described it as a great spectacle and said his side could take many positives despite the defeat.
Manchester City came from behind at St James’ Park to beat Newcastle 3-1 and book a quarter-final place, with Omar Marmoush delivering the decisive contribution for the second time this season in a cup tie against Eddie Howe’s side. Harvey Barnes put Newcastle ahead in the 18th minute, but Savinho levelled before the interval. Marmoush struck twice after the break — two minutes into the second half and again in the 65th minute — to complete the turnaround for Pep Guardiola’s side and extend City’s remarkable record against Newcastle across both domestic cups this season. City have now eliminated Newcastle from the League Cup and FA Cup in the same campaign, a result that underlines the depth and resilience of a squad still chasing trophies on multiple fronts.
The quarter-final draw is scheduled for Monday 9 March, with the last-eight ties to be played across the weekend of 4-5 April 2026. Liverpool also advanced, defeating Wolves 3-1 at Molineux on Friday night. Several fifth-round ties remain to be played — Fulham host Southampton, Port Vale face Sunderland, Leeds United take on Norwich City, and West Ham host Brentford — meaning the full quarter-final field will not be known until Monday’s draw, which takes place after the conclusion of the final fifth-round fixture at the London Stadium.
