Crystal Palace

26th April 2016.
To say that it's been an odd year in the FA Cup would be an understatement. Last year, after heavyweight clubs like Manchester City, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur were all eliminated in the round of 32, pundits labeled the tournament as one of the most wide-open in FA Cup history. Still, despite all of the ado about underdogs and upsets, Arsenal still defended their 2013/14 title to clinch the FA Cup trophy for the 12^th time.

The 2015/16 FA Cup has taken almost the direct opposite narrative. Early rounds made it look as if the Premier League's top clubs would dominate the tournament. Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal all made it to the quarterfinals, with none of them pitted against one another. It was almost an unspoken agreement that all three clubs would make it to the semi-finals. As it turned out, only one of them did.

Quarterfinal Surprises

Indeed, where last year's round of 32 brought most of the upsets and surprises, this year's shocking twists all played

By Edward Stratmann.

Despite Crystal Palace ultimately being unable to hold on for their first victory in 10 EPL matches - succumbing to a late Fabio Borini strike to draw 2-2 with Sunderland - positives could once again be drawn from Yannick Bolasie's so far encouraging return to action.

In just his third game back from a hip injury, he followed on nicely from his strong body of work against West Bromwich Albion on the weekend, as the stage appeared set for him and the Eagles to finally notch up their first win since December 19, 2015. After all, in last season's fixture away at Sunderland, Bolasie was magnificent, scoring a breathtaking hat-trick, in a match where he ran riot against the hapless Black Cats defence.

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Moreover, the last win Alan Pardew's men enjoyed, a 2-1 triumph against Stoke City, came on the day Bolasie got injured, and in the last game he started. So with the Congolese international returning to the starting line-up for the first time since,

A year ago, by the time the fifth round of the 2014/15 FA Cup rolled around, only three heavyweight Premier League clubs had survived the eliminations. Those three teams-Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United-had managed to avoid an upset-ridden fourth round that had sent Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, and Southampton (among others) packing. Arsenal went on to win the tournament, beating Aston Villa in the finals for a second consecutive FA Cup trophy.

This year, things could hardly be more different. Most of the football clubs to qualify for the round of 16 in the 2015/16 FA Cup are big names from the Premier League. The fourth round of the tournament-played this past weekend, in place of regular league competition-saw Arsenal, both Manchester teams, Chelsea, Everton, and Crystal Palace all earning spots in the final 16. Furthermore, most of those soccer clubs won big in their fourth round matches, paving the way for what should be a more competitive FA Cup battle than

Most of the Premier League's top football clubs sailed through the third round of the 2015/16 FA Cup easily over the weekend, with Manchester City, Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea, West Ham United, and others all cruising through to the fourth round of the Football Association tournament. Read on for a recap of the winners and losers of the weekend!

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The Winners

As usual, the Premier League's soccer teams got a bye into the third round, which means this is the first time in the 2015/16 FA Cup that we are seeing teams such as Man United, Arsenal, and others. Since so many of the league's top clubs were upset and eliminated in the fourth round of last year's FA Cup-including Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, and Chelsea-most of the Premier League's best teams are playing FA Cup football for the first time in nearly a full calendar year.

We'll have to wait and see what round four brings, but round three saw the Premier League's teams mostly avoiding upsets. The Sky Blues