NEWCASTLE, Jan 9: At least Newcastle’s fight to stay in the English Premier League won’t be hampered by a deep run in the FA Cup.
In further embarrassment for a club with the world’s richest owners, Saudi-controlled Newcastle was beaten by third-tier Cambridge United 1-0 in the biggest shock yet in the third round of the FA Cup. On Saturday, it was a team in 16th place in the League Cup delivering the humiliation, with Joe Ironside scoring a 56th-minute winner at St. James’ Park.
England right back Kieran Trippier even started against Cambridge but couldn’t make a difference in what will go down as one of the biggest financial mismatches in football history.
In a dramatic finish, Newcastle’s Joelinton had a header from a corner tipped over the crossbar acrobatically by Bulgarian goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov in stoppage time.
In a less sizeable upset in the round, second-tier Huddersfield came from behind to beat top-flight Burnley 2-1.
Josh Koroma and Matty Pearson scored in the final 16 minutes at Turf Moor.
Crystal Palace survived a scare, thanks to an inspired second-half display by winger Michael Olise to beat second-tier Millwall 2-1.
The 20-year-old Olise was instrumental in his team’s recovery from falling behind in the 17th minute after Benik Afobe scored. Olise bent a shot into the bottom corner in the 46th and then crossed for Jean-Philippe Mateta to head home in the 58th.
Olise was also at the center of an incident in the second half when he appeared to be struck by a bottle thrown from the crowd while he was taking a corner. British broadcaster ITV also picked up homophobic abuse by fans aimed toward Palace midfielder Conor Gallagher.
Leicester began its title defense with a 4-1 win over Watford, which is managed by Claudio Ranieri.
Youri Tielemans got Leicester off to a good start by converting a penalty, before James Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Marc Albrighton also scored.
European champions Chelsea beat non-league Chesterfield 5-1 late on Saturday.
Tottenham needed three goals in the last 16 minutes to avoid an upset against Morecambe as they came from behind to win 3-1. (AP)
