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Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and holders Arsenal have reached the FA Cup fourth round, while Premier League strugglers QPR have been knocked out by third-tier Sheffield United.
Arsenal progressed on Sunday after winning 2-0 at home to Hull in a repeat of last season’s final, in which Arsene Wenger’s side ended their nine-year trophy drought by coming from behind to win 3-2.
The reunion was less dramatic.
Per Mertesacker headed Arsenal in front from Alexis Sanchez’s 20th-minute corner and Sanchez sealed victory with a precise shot eight minutes from time.
“We missed some chances, but we needed to be patient and do the job in a professional way,” Wenger told the BBC.
“If we could stop Hull scoring, you could see the second goal would come. It came late, but we dealt with the situation.”
Premier League joint-leaders Manchester City were given a scare by second-tier Sheffield Wednesday before coming through 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium thanks to a 91st-minute winner.
Wednesday had lost 7-0 at City in the League Cup in September, but they took a 14th-minute lead through Atdhe Nuhiu, only for James Milner, on his 29th birthday, to equalise in the 66th minute and snatch a last-gasp winner.
Manchester United also recorded a hard-fought victory over lower-league opposition, winning 2-0 at third-division Yeovil Town through Ander Herrera and Angel di Maria.
“It is always difficult to play against a team like this, who play long balls,” United coach Louis van Gaal said.
Chelsea enjoyed a more straightforward victory, winning 3-0 at home to second-division Watford courtesy of second-half strikes by Willian, Loic Remy and Kurt Zouma.
Sheffield United, who reached last season’s semi-finals and face Tottenham in the last four of this season’s League Cup, won 3-0 at QPR via a Marc McNulty goal and a second-half brace from Jamal Campbell-Ryce.
QPR became the second top-flight team to be knocked out in the third round following Newcastle’s 1-0 loss at Leicester City on Saturday.
Southampton were taken to a replay by Championship side Ipswich Town after a 1-1 draw at St Mary’s, while it took a powerful late effort by Christian Benteke for Aston Villa to overcome second-tier Blackpool 1-0.
Non-league Wrexham of the fifth-tier Football Conference came within 10 minutes of creating another piece of FA Cup history, only to lose 3-1 at top-flight Stoke City.
The Welsh side, who knocked out then league champions Arsenal in the third round in January 1992, went 1-0 up in the 73rd minute at the Britannia Stadium when Mark Carrington headed home.
But Marko Arnautovic stabbed home an equaliser in the 80th minute before Stephen Ireland claimed a late brace to send Mark Hughes’s side through.
Alan Pardew made a winning start to life as manager of Crystal Palace, who won 4-0 at non-league Dover Athletic.
Meanwhile, Sunderland repeated their victory over Leeds United in the 1973 final with an identical 1-0 home win.
Tottenham travel to Burnley on Monday in a repeat of the 1962 final, which Spurs won, while Liverpool visit third-tier AFC Wimbledon for a tie that recalls the original Wimbledon’s shock victory in the 1988 final.
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