Jan. 31: Edin Dzeko opened his goalscoring account for Manchester City to salvage a 1-1 draw with Notts County as Tottenham Hotspur were sent crashing out of the FA Cup in a humiliating 4-0 rout by Fulham on Sunday.
Bosnian striker Dzeko netted in the 80th minute to rescue City, who were left staring down the barrel of a shock fourth round upset after Neal Bishop headed the lowly Magpies in front on 59 minutes at Meadow Lane. City — who have spent more than 300 million pounds on players since their takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008 — are currently 58 places above Notts County, languishing in 18th spot of League One.
But the gulf between Roberto Mancini’s expensively assembled squad and Paul Ince’s side was rarely obvious as a quagmire of a pitch acted as a leveller. In the most one-sided result of the day, high-flying Tottenham suffered a four-goal mauling at Craven Cottage, their heaviest ever defeat to Fulham. A disastrous opening 15 minutes saw Spurs concede two penalties — both converted by Danny Murphy — and captain Michael Dawson red-carded.
Shambolic defending allowed Brede Hangeland to make it 3-0 on 23 minutes before Moussa Dembele scored a fine individual effort on half-time to pile on the agony for Spurs.
In other on Sunday, 10-man Arsenal needed a late Cesc Fabregas penalty to overcome Huddersfield 2-1 while Stoke downed Wolves 1-0 to advance to the last 16. In a thrilling encounter at Upton Park, West Ham striker Victor Obinna scored a hat-trick as the Premier League side overcame Nottingham Forest 3-2 to advance.
Stoke meanwhile ended Wolves’ FA Cup campaign after Robert Huth struck on 81 minutes at Molineux. Wolves had a chance to equalise from the penalty spot late on but Thomas Sorensen saved Nenad Milijas’ spot-kick.