Arsenal Continue Hunt for Quadruple and Chelsea Squeeze Past Wrexham - FA Cup Round 5's Saturday Matches in Review
Arsenal Continue Hunt for Quadruple and Chelsea Squeeze Past Wrexham - FA Cup Round 5's Saturday Matches in Review
The FA Cup. Over 150 years of competition. This year, only 16 remain, and on Saturday, three more sides bowed out of England's most historical tournament.
Two topflight clubs edged past their repsective lower-tier opposition to gain passage through to the last eight in order to keep their hopes alive of the crown.
For Arsenal they travelled to Mansfield, with the Stags hoping for yet another upset, while the Gunners looked to expand their search of an unlikely quadruple.
Then we headed to north Wales, where play-off hunting Wrexham hosted Chelsea, before St James' Park looked to host an all-action clash between Newcastle and Manchester City.
Here, Football Park provides with all the action, as it happened, across the day's events.
Expert Eze Helps Gunners Evade Mansfield Scare
The first match of Saturday following Liverpool's 3-1 win over Wolves occurred at the One Call Stadium, as relegation threatened in League One Mansfield welcomed Premier League leaders Arsenal in hopes of continuing their streak of upsets after defeating both Sheffield United and Burnley already.
The hosts began the game very lively, managing to create an impressive amount of chances to test the visiting defence. Taking 18 in all, the Stags would have hoped to produce quality efforts over quantity, as they struggled to actually put one on the board.
Five minutes before the break, it was Arsenal who took the lead, through Noni Madueke to give Mikel Arteta's young Gunners the lead. Just after the interval, it didn't take Mansfield long to draw level, after 16-year-old Marli Salmon played a pass which was intercepted by substitute Will Evans, who finished calmly past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Some hit by Eze as he puts Arsenal back ahead against League One side Mansfield…👏 pic.twitter.com/2fKpnzvnH4
— george (@StokeyyG2) March 7, 2026
This forced Arsenal into calling for their strong, experienced bench to get them out of trouble; and they did just that. In the 66th minute, it was Eberechi Eze who found space just minutes after coming on for Kai Havertz to release a thunderous effort into the roof of the net.
No Hollywood Ending as Chelsea Left Relieved
There's no FA Cup action without some nail-biting action, and that's exactly what Wrexham delivered, although travelling Blues fans were not so keen. But in this tournament, a win is a win, and Chelsea came out on top to progress.
Liam Rosenior's side did start out on the back foot, however, after Callum Doyle's delicious ball over the top of the away defence led to a smart finish from Sam Smith put the hosts ahead. They may have been heading into the interval with a surprise lead too, but Alejandro Garnacho found a big stroke of luck to draw his side level. After finding space well on the left of the box, the Argentine's shot was blocked on the line by George Thomason, but his clearance went straight into the back of Arthur Okonkwo and into his own net.
From here, you'd expect the more seasoned side to clean things up in the second and ease to victory - much like they did over both Charlton Athletic and Hull City - but today was a different story. Chelsea were left in a state of panic with just 15 minutes to go when Doyle turned to finisher to strike home after his deflected effort.
WREXHAM RETAKE THE LEAD AGAINST CHELSEA 🤯
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 7, 2026
Callum Doyle's quick thinking has the Championship side dreaming of an FA Cup quarter-final!
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/K54QQK3WjZ
Chelsea fought back swiftly, however, as Josh Acheampong found himself in a poacher's position to thump the Blues level four minutes later. The madness didn't end here though, as VAR had something to say before the game headed to extra-time. With moments of regulation remaining, George Dobson went flying into Garnacho, and after initially only being shown a yellow card, Peter Bankes deemed it dangerous and high upon review, and only one short look at the monitor before upgrading the card of choice.
The Welsh Dragons began to tire as extra-time dragged on, and Chelsea took the lead for the first time in the 96th minute, as Garnacho found his deserved goal before Wrexham thought they had dramatically tied the game from a corner, but Lewis Brunt was deemed to be comfortably offside.
Chelsea saw the game off with moments to go, with Joao Pedro continuing his excellent week in front of goal, slotting home a smart finish to spare Rosenior's blushes - potentially making the Blues boss believe he should have started strong and then resting with Paris Saint-Germain coming up on Wednesday.
Marmoush Double Makes Four Consecutive City Wins Over Newcastle
The last of Saturday's fixtures ended with a jaw-dropping clash between two titanic Premier League clubs as Pep Guardiola's City looked to continue their incredible unbeaten streak in the FA Cup in non-Wembley-hosted games.
Meeting for fifth time already this time, Newcastle only managed to win their meeting in November, and this was their fourth clash of 2026, with the Magpies looking the brighter of the two from the outset. This was evident through the hosts taking the lead courtrsy of Harvey Barnes after 18 minutes - a goal very important to Newcastle's season, with this competition looking a strong opportunity to return to Europe once again with the league looking like a tricky journey.
City, as ever, didn't let the opener get to them, and they only upped the anti. Piling on pressure until they found a gap given in the 39th minute, as Jeremy Doku's low cross found an open, unmarked Savinho to level the tie. It wasn't then long before the visitors took an impressive lead through practically copy pasting the first, with Matheus Nunes breaking down the right, cutting across for Omar Marmoush this time to do the honours.
Omar Marmoush scores again, and what a goal it is 🤩
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 7, 2026
Manchester City now have a two-goal cushion against Newcastle.
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/xp2rrcjfrY
There was one more goal on the night, and it came on everyone's favourite minute, with the Egyptian thumping a staggering strike to beat a hopeless Aaron Ramsdale to see the tie through in the 67th minute and send City safely into the last eight.
What's To Come This Weekend
The action is far from over, with four more ties ready to take place over the coming days. Fulham will welcome second tier outfit Southampton at noon before Sunderland travel to the lowest ranked side remaining in the competition in Port Vale at half past one before Leeds take on Norwich at 4:30.
On Monday, we have another all-topflight clash as West Ham welcome Brentford, with the quarter-final draw expected to take place prior to the match.
Four juggernauts of English football have booked their tickets to the last eight and are within one win of another Wembley appearance - who will join them?
Harry Pascoe 
Joe Ryan 
