Coming into Sunday, three Premier League sides had already been eliminated from the FA Cup in the fourth round. That number nearly doubled in two matches on Sunday.
Both Watford and Hull City crashed out of the FA Cup on Sunday, losing to Championship clubs in deflating fashion.
Watford was dropped first, undone by a goal from Millwall leading scorer Steve Morison in the 85th minute in a 1-0 defeat. Watford had a rough afternoon, first denied what seemed a clear penalty as Brice Dja Djedje went down in the box before halftime, but Martin Atkinson waved away the protests from coach Walter Mazzarri. They also saw goalkeeper Costel Pantillimon stretchered off before the break with what seemed like a painful injury to his lower leg.
[ FOLLOW LIVE: Other Sunday FA Cup fixtures ]
In the other early match, Fulham ran Hull City ragged, dropping them 4-1 with striker Chris Martin starting and scoring despite plenty of confusion surrounding his contract situation. The Whites have been one of the best sides in the Championship this season, but have struggled with poor finishing. That wasn’t a problem today, with Martin scoring alongside former Hull forward Sone Aluko, Stefan Johansen, and young Ryan Sessegnon. The game had some drama late as well when Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli saved two straight penalties by Abel Hernandez despite a second penalty being given for a foul directly after the first save. Here’s video of both from the stands:
The defeat for Hull comes just days after breaking Manchester United’s 17-match unbeaten streak, but still crashing out of the EFL Cup semifinals on aggregate.
The results see the pair of second-tier clubs into the last 16, and drops the two Premier League sides out, totalling 12 Premier League clubs that have been eliminated from the competition, with Leicester City yet to play its Fourth Round replay against Derby County. Manchester United is also still to play, set to host Wigan Athletic at Old Trafford with kickoff at 11:00 a.m. ET.
