As usual this year’s FA Cup has already produced some giant killing feats across the country with some notable headlines being grabbed by the likes of Nottingham Forest, Hartlepool, Torquay and Southend. As the draw for the fourth round came to a conclusion, it was clear that the weekends of 24th and 25th January would be thoroughly enjoyed by football lovers across the world.
Let us now have a sneak preview of some of the selected mouthwatering ties in store for us.

Liverpool Vs Everton: The very first tie that makes fans sit up is surely the Merseyside derby between the Liverpool and Everton set to be hosted by Anfield. Considered one of the world’s most passionate derbies, the Merseyside will be a notch livelier given the stakes attached to the tie being a knock-out Cup affair. The nature of the draw means that both Liverpool and Everton would meet each other twice in a week with the first being a Monday night Premier League clash also at Anfield.

Man Utd Vs Tottenham: Sounds straight forward for the Red Devils given their record over the North London club over the past few years yet Spurs are now managed by former Pompey boss Harry Redknapp who last year engineered a fantastic 1-0 Old Trafford coup over Sir Alex Fergusson’s boys en route to the South Coast club’s first ever FA Cup title. Harry won’t let go his title very easily. The match has an added incentive given former Spurs player Dimitar Berbatov’s presence on the United side and the Bulgarian would come under a lot of stick from the Tottenham supporters following his much talked about summer move from White Hart Lane. This will be a good match yet United are a side on a high and the ‘World Champions’ won’t make same mistakes twice in two years at home and the quality the club has at disposal should see it through to the next round.

Cardiff Vs Arsenal: Last year’s finalists Cardiff City has been handed a tough draw against North London side Arsenal yet the Bluebirds are already dreaming of a massive FA Cup shock in their farewell season at the Welsh capital’s dilapidated Ninian Park. Arsene Wenger’s side has suffered from inconsistency throughout the season so far and Arsenal fans can certainly hope for a banana skin trip to Cardiff. The Gunners have proved time and again that they are uncomfortable visiting intimidating places on cold days and the Cardiff fans would certainly make life bitter for the side from the Emirates stadium at their closed Ninian Park. Another factor that could play in the minds of the Cardiff players is the ability to match up to big Premier League boys. Dave Jones’ side is currently sitting fourth in the Championship table scrambling for promotion to the big league come August 2009 and City would be really up for this to test their mettle against one of the potential future Premier League rivals.

Derby Vs Nottingham Forest: A mouthwatering local derby that has an added incentive given this is a knock-out FA Cup fourth round tie. Forest earned the result of the round by shocking Manchester City 3-0 at Eastlands on Saturday. Now the reward for new boss Billy Davies for such a stunning win is a visit to former club and arch Midlands rivals Derby County’s Pride Park. Scot Billy Davies was instrumental in taking the Rams back to the Premier League in 2007 but was replaced by Paul Jewel in the winter given the horrific showing in the big league. Now taking charge of the Reds, Davies knows his job is to take Forest to safety in the Championship but he would also know a win against Man City followed by a knock out punch to arch enemies Derby County would settle down the City ground faithful and earn his boys a massive morale booster ahead of their battle for survival at the tier one of English football.

Sunderland Vs Blackburn Rovers: A typical grinding all Premier League FA Cup fourth round prospect which has the potential to be drawn into a replay. The Black Cats have already seen off fellow Premier league rivals Bolton in the last round and know that a place in the fifth round beckons in the horizon if they can utilize the home advantage at the imposing Stadium of Light against Sam Allardyce’s much improving Blackburn outfit. Since the departure of Roy Keane from Sunderland, Ricky Sbragia has turned around the fate of the club impressively. With Premier League survival the sole priority for both the clubs, this FA Cup fourth round clash comes as a welcome distraction for the two physically imposing sides and this gives the prospect for a really enticing battle.

These are my picks of the round yet there are bound to be great matches over the January 24 and 25 weekends which could literally exceed expectations in the world’s greatest knock-out domestic football competition.
Matches such as Hartlepool United Vs West Ham, Kettering Vs Fulham, Birmingham City/Wolves Vs Middlesborough, Cheltenham/Doncaster Vs Aston Villa, Chelsea/Southend Vs Ipswich Town, Torquay Vs Coventry City have giant-killing prospects given the years of pedigree of the coveted FA Cup competition. Yet the above five picks could light up the round in addition to the other contests.