Not since 1957 has Round 5 of the FA Cup ended without a single replay. We've had a couple of occasions where the fixtures have thrown up just a single draw, most recently in 2003, and a number of times when half the matches were tied, as in 1994. But half a century has passed since all sixteen matches were resolved at the first attempt. Only two upsets registered on the Upset-o-meter, Sheffield United (II) required a deflection off a balloon (!) to beat Manchester City 2:1, and Wolves notched up a 4:1 win at Watford (both II).
We came surprisingly close to having a third shock, as Havant and Waterlooville (VI) twice took the league at Liverpool (I), causing commentators across the world to wonder just how large the gap in football was these days. Inevitably, the higher-ranked side lasted better, but didn't take the lead until 55 minutes into the game, and was rather fortunate to come off the field 5:2 winners.
In the world of Glickoblog, we reckon a 30-point upset is interesting that week, a 40-point upset is going to be one of the highlights of the season, and a 50-point upset will be remembered by fans a decade down the line. Had Havant held on for their win, it would have been a 56-point shock, enough to be wheeled out whenever anyone wanted to embarrass Liverpool for the rest of the still-young century. Even a draw would have been a 31-point upset, the second-largest surprise of the round.
Other matters, and we note that Inter Milan has suffered two notable upsets in spite of drawing both its games. This is what happens when a side heads above 1300 points: a draw against 1100-point Juventus was a 14-point surprise, and one against 1030-point Udinese a 17-point upset. Valencia has been on both ends of upsets, dishing one out to Atletico in the cup, but beaten by Almeria in the league; indeed, six of this week-end's nine Spanish league fixtures appear on the upset list.
44 Sheffield United - Manchester City 2:1 41 Aberdeen - Hearts 0:5 38 Tottenham - Arsenal 4:1 37 Lazio - Fiorentina 2:1 37 Espanyol - Betis 1:2 37 Atalanta - AC Milan 2:1 36 Murcia - Levante 2:3 36 Cagliari - Napoli 2:1 35 Sporting Lisbon - Porto 2:0 35 Mallorca - Atl.Madrid 1:0 35 Lorient - Bordeaux 1:0 34 D.La Coruna - Valladolid 3:1 32 Valencia - Atletico Madrid 1:0 31 Valencia - Almeria 0:1 31 Lille - Le Mans 3:1 30 Watford - Wolves 1:4 30 Sochaux - Valenciennes 1:0 30 Le Mans - Monaco 1:0 19 Bristol Rovers - Fulham 0:0 17 Udinese - Inter Milan 0:0 16 Athl.Bilbao - Barcelona 1:1 15 Sampdoria - Roma 1:1 14 Inter Milan - Juventus 2:2
The Rest of Europe
Looking only at countries where at least one club has played since 17 December.
Austria GRA 800 146.4 0 0.00 AWI 752 113.9 14 0.12 RAP 743 124.3 0 0.00 Belgium LIE 881 124.2 30 0.24 BRU 880 134.4 0 0.00 AND 860 108.3 -18 -0.17 WRG 727 113.8 -25 -0.22 BEV 513 185.1 0 0.00 (II) Switzerland BAS 1068 120.0 4 0.03 GRZ 829 130.3 0 0.00 ZUR 771 131.2 -17 -0.13 THU 740 136.4 0 0.00 Czechia SLP 978 112.5 0 0.00 LIB 860 140.7 0 0.00 BLV 844 113.6 -16 -0.14 PRG 842 112.5 0 0.00 TEP 809 141.8 0 0.00 Denmark COP 929 106.8 -33 -0.31 ODE 874 127.9 0 0.00 AAL 859 140.1 42 0.30 BRO 854 141.8 0 0.00 Greece OLY 1155 100.0 7 0.07 PAN 1065 100.6 17 0.17 AEK 968 106.7 4 0.04 ASS 855 103.9 -10 -0.10 PAO 810 118.7 - 9 -0.08 PIO 796 107.3 -43 -0.40 LAR 733 122.2 -29 -0.24 AIG 535 173.2 0 0.00 (II) Croatia DZA 769 148.3 24 0.16 Israel MPT 941 150.9 - 7 -0.05 MHA 909 140.0 6 0.04 HTA 818 128.9 44 0.34 Netherlands AJX 1103 111.0 34 0.31 PSV 1054 105.0 37 0.35 FEY 953 119.5 -41 -0.34 HEE 947 113.4 31 0.27 AZA 915 103.4 -76 -0.74 UTR 763 122.6 -13 -0.11 Portugal PTO 1126 103.2 -26 -0.25 SLS 1054 106.7 43 0.40 BEN 1020 104.0 19 0.18 BRG 944 114.4 2 0.02 GUI 829 143.7 -36 -0.25 Serbia CRV 764 128.9 -25 -0.19 PBG 710 163.2 0 0.00 Russia LOK 979 118.8 0 0.00 SPM 960 112.5 -38 -0.34 ZSP 916 116.6 0 0.00 CSK 909 117.0 0 0.00 Turkey FEN 1148 108.0 0 0.00 BES 991 110.8 0 0.00 GAL 884 118.6 -33 -0.28 GEN 713 137.4 24 0.17
