Manchester United’s Turkish goalkeeper Altay Bayındır was the unlikely hero as the 10-man Red Devils beat Arsenal on penalties to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup on Sunday.
Bayındır, United’s stand-in goalkeeper, saved a spot-kick from Martin Odegaard in normal time at the Emirates Stadium and produced another decisive stop in the shootout to deny Kai Havertz.
The game was drawn 1-1 thanks to goals from Bruno Fernandes and Gabriel Jesus, the latter forced off with a concerning looking injury shortly afterward, with the visitors short of numbers following Diogo Dalot’s 61st-minute sending off.
Joshua Zirkzee sealed the Red Devils’ win from the spot to secure a meeting with United’s recent caretaker boss Ruud van Nistelrooy, now in charge of Leicester, in the fourth round.
Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim praised substitute Joshua Zirkzee as a “game changer” after he notched the match-winning penalty.
The close-season signing suffered the embarrassment of being substituted just 33 minutes into his side’s defeat by Newcastle just a fortnight ago.
“He is a good guy, he works a lot. Life has these beautiful things,” Amorim told BBC Sport after the forward’s moment of redemption.
“A few weeks ago were in a difficult moment, now he was a game-changer for us. We go through with a Joshua Zirkzee goal. We deserved to pass through this round because we all suffered together and showed character.”
Tottenham needed extratime to find a way past fifth-tier strugglers Tamworth, playing out a 90-minute stalemate at The Lamb before running in three unanswered goals in extratime.
Spurs survived some tense moments late in the second half but found their footing as the part timers grew weary. An own-goal from the under-pressure Nathan Tshikuna broke the deadlock before Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson added the gloss.
Ange Postecoglou’s side take on fellow Premier League outfit Aston Villa next.
Tamworth manager Andy Peaks was highly impressed with the way his part-timers acquitted themselves.
“They all go back to work tomorrow but they can go with their heads held high,” he said. “Everyone put a shift in, everyone stuck to the remit. It was unbelievable from our boys, I’m just so proud of them.”
Postecoglu said: “It’s still difficult to score goals, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing against. As far as I’m aware we’re through to the next round and that was the objective today.
“Credit to Tamworth, they made it hard for us. They should be really proud of their efforts and I’m sure everyone in the ground had a good day. For us, we move on.”
Newcastle made only slightly easier work of fourth-tier Bromley, recording a 3-1 win at St James’ Park after summoning Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes off the bench.
Bromley had taken a shock lead through Cameron Congreve inside just eight minutes, with Lewis Miley leveling before the interval. But Eddie Howe sent for the big-name reinforcements and was rewarded when Gordon converted a penalty early in the second half.
Will Osula ended the scoring by grabbing his first goal for the club, who have now won eight games in a row for the first time since 2016.
Another fourth-tier side did keep their name in the hat, Doncaster edging second-division Hull in a shootout. Luke Molyneux’s effort looked enough to give Rovers the win until Gustavo Puerta leveled 10 minutes from time.
Harry Clifton scored the winning spot-kick after Mason Burstow and Alfie Jones missed for the second-tier side, sending Grant McCann’s men through to a plumb meeting with Crystal Palace. Palace scraped through 1-0 at the expense of third-tier Stockport thanks to an early goal from Eberechi Eze.
Southampton enjoyed some respite from their Premier League relegation battle, seeing off Swansea 3-0.
Record signing Kamaldeen Sulemana ended a 37-game goal drought against the Welsh side and Tyler Dibling netted twice to hand manager Ivan Juric his first win in charge.
Ipswich also came out with a morale-boosting 3-0 triumph at the expense of Bristol Rovers.
Kalvin Phillips opened the scoring with his first goal since December 2023, before Jack Clarke and Jack Taylor made it safe in the first half.