FA Cup fourth round draw LIVE: Fixtures as non-league sides joined Liverpool and Spurs to discover fate

Also kicking off at 2pm today is Liverpool’s match against Shrewsbury. Domestic cups do not matter for the big clubs most of the time. And then they do. They have started to matter for Liverpool.

The Premier League was Jurgen Klopp’s primary target this season but the possibility of winning the title became much more remote over two disappointing weeks of the festive period.

The margin for error is tiny when duelling with Manchester City. Taking two points from three games leaves Liverpool 11 points behind the champions. No one at Anfield is giving up but pragmatism begins to outweigh optimism when double-digit gaps appear at the top of the table.

Today’s clash is just the third time that these two teams have faced each other in the FA Cup.

Leeds prevailed 1-0 in a second-round replay in February 1924 before West Ham won 4-1 in a fourth round tie in January 1930, with Vic Watson scoring all four goals.

Marcelo Bielsa says that Leeds have an undiminished desire to win every game they play and to challenge for trophies in all the competitions they are a part of.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference he said:

West Ham have won the last three meetings between the two teams, including both in the Premier League last season. The last time Leeds won against West Ham was in 2005, with their last win away from home coming in a 4-3 thriller back in November 2002.

There was an early kick off today between Luton and Harrogate. That match has reached half-time with Elijah Adebayo’s right-footed shot from inside the box giving Luton a 1-0 lead at the break.

It is exactly 50 years since Leeds United won the FA Cup for the first and only time in the club’s 103-year history.

They faced Arsenal in the 1972 FA Cup final and came out 1-0 winners thanks to a header from England legend Allan Clarke who also scored in Leeds’ Fair Cup (now Uefa Europa League) final victory over Juventus a year earlier.

Can the Whites emulate that historic success again this season?

Due to the fixture backlog caused by Covid-19 postponements the third and fourth rounds of the FA Cup will be settled with one game.

Replays have been scrapped this season to help ease the fixture congestion and any draws over 90 minutes will be settled with 30 minutes of extra time and penalties to decide the winners.

Clubs can also name nine substitutes and use five in the cup.

David Moyes makes three changes to the West Ham team that defeated Crystal Palace last time out. Alphonse Areola replaces Lukasz Fabianksi in goal with Ryan Fredericks joining the defence in place of Vladimir Coufal. Said Benrahma is out so in comes Nikola Vlasic.

Marcelo Bielsa shuffles his players around and brings in some unfamiliar faces. 18-year-old Leo Hjelde partners Diego Llorente at centre-back with fellow teenager Sam Greenwood leading the line. Patrick Bamford doesn’t make the squad. Lewis Bate comes into the midfield with Adam Forshaw and Raphinha dropping to the bench.

West Ham XI: Areola, Fredericks, Dawson, Diop, Johnson, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Lanzini, Vlasic, Antonio

Leeds XI: Meslier, Ayling, Llorente, Hjelde, Firpo, Koch, Bate, James, Klich, Harrison, Greenwood

The draw for the fourth round of the FA Cup takes place after the conclusion of West Ham’s match against Leeds United. There are nine fixtures to be played today with the final fixture of the third round, Manchester United v Aston Villa, taking place tomorrow.

Vying for a place in the fourth round draw today are:

Luton v Harrogate, Cardiff v Preston, Charlton v Norwich, Liverpool v Shrewsbury, Stoke v Leyton Orient, Tottenham v Morecambe, West Ham v Leeds, Wolves v Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest v Arsenal (5.10pm).

The winners of those games will join the 22 teams already through to the next round. They are:

Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Fulham, Huddersfield Town, Coventry City, Hartlepool United, Crystal Palace, Barnsley, Boreham Wood, Kidderminster Harriers, Leicester City, Cambridge United, Peterborough United, Brentford, Queens Park Rangers, Brighton & Hove Albion, Wigan Athletic, Plymouth Argyle, Chelsea, Everton, Southampton, AFC Bournemouth