Window of opportunity

In the 4th round of the FA Cup at the weekend a stunning 1-0 win at Torquay earned little Crawley Town a trip to Manchester United who had returned from Southampton with a 2-1 win while a 2-1 victory for Leyton at Swansea gave them a home tie against Arsenal who struggled to defeat Huddersfield at the Emirates. Tottenham were dumped out of the cup 4-0 by Fulham at Craven Cottage while a single goal at Watford saw Brighton move into the next round and Birmingham came from 2 down at home to gain a 3-2 success against Coventry. Victor Obinna gave West Ham a home victory with a hat-trick in their 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest while Wolves lost by to a single goal at home to Stoke and Everton will have to travel to London after their 1-1 draw with Chelsea. Blackburn were beaten 3-1 at Aston Villa and Notts County earned a replay at Manchester City after their 1-1 draw on Sunday.
The January transfer window was closed and the league resumed in midweek with Suarez coming off the bench to score on his home début in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Stoke while Rooney netted twice for United as Aston Villa were stung 3-1 in Manchester and Arsenal kept the pressure on the leaders with a 2-1 win at home to Everton. Chelsea gained momentum with a 4-2 win at Sunderland and an early header by Crouch was the difference in Tottenham’s favour at Blackpool while Manchester City drew 2-2 at Birmingham. Victor Obinna added 2 more goals to his tally and Robbie Keane scored on his début for the Hammers as West Ham rocked Blackpool 3-1 at the seaside and Wigan shared 4 goals with their host West Brom while Fulham and Bolton enjoyed 1-0 home wins over Newcastle and Wolves respectively.