FA Cup fourth round: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Slaven Bilic returns to West Ham, Chris Wilder goes back to where it all began and Arsenal may turn to Eddie Nketiah

Shrewsbury are not averse to a flush of FA Cup romance. In January 2003 they were at the foot of the fourth tier when Everton visited and the wily old hands, Ian Woan and Nigel Jemson, combined to confirm one of this millennium’s more famous shocks. Wind back a couple of decades and they enjoyed two quarter-final appearances under Graham Turner. Between the two, in 1996, there was a fourth-round tie against Roy Evans’ Liverpool, who came away comfortable 4-0 winners. The local newspaper worked out that it was a meeting of teams worth £195,000 and £29.6m respectively. Back then it was an eye-watering disparity but nowadays the latter figure would not even buy you Sadio Mané’s weaker left foot. The Shrews are comfortable enough in League One’s midfield these days but Liverpool’s modern-day visit is arguably the toughest assignment they have ever faced. The beauty of the cup, though, is that it still manages to create heroes nobody would ever have foreseen. Perhaps Shrewsbury could be the team that finally shatter the Premier League leaders’ veneer of invincibility. NA

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from Football | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2TTOhGO