Premier League set to at least equal unwanted FA Cup record set in Portsmouth’s 2007/08 cup-winning season

In the Premier League era, the most top-flight teams to fall at the first hurdle is nine in the 2007-08 season that ended with Pompey lifting the silverware.

Eight have already crashed out this year, with a ninth certain to follow after Liverpool and Wolves drew, while the record could even be broken if League One Oxford upset league leaders Arsenal tonight.

The casualties include five from all-Premier League ties while two fell to Championship opposition, leaving Aston Villa and Newcastle’s defeats as the only upsets spanning more than one division.

Sheffield Wednesday, from League One, beat the in-form Magpies 2-1 with a Josh Windass brace before League Two high-fliers Stevenage scored twice in the last three minutes to produce a stunning 2-1 win at Villa Park.

Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest conceded four goals apiece in defeats to Championship sides Burnley and Blackpool respectively.

The all-Premier League ties saw Everton beaten 3-1 by Manchester United and Chelsea thrashed 4-0 by Manchester City, while Crystal Palace and Brentford fell by the odd goal to Southampton and West Ham respectively. The loser of the Liverpool-Wolves replay, scheduled for next Tuesday, will join the list.

Some of the weekend’s more notable results actually involved Championship sides Coventry and West Bromwich Albion faltering against non-league opposition.

Wrexham stunned the Sky Blues with a characteristically wild 4-3 win, clinched by the competition’s top scorer to date Paul Mullin, while Albion needed a last-minute equaliser from Brandon Thomas-Asante to salvage a 3-3 draw and a replay against Chesterfield.

The record-breaking 2007-08 season saw Aston Villa, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Everton, Fulham, Reading, Sunderland and West Ham, all top-flight sides at the time, exit in the third round with then-League One sides Oldham, Huddersfield and Bristol Rovers accounting for the Toffees, Birmingham and Fulham respectively.

Over the previous 10 seasons there have been eight Premier League teams eliminated on three separate occasions, most recently in 2018-19, and at least five in every third round.

Brighton will play Liverpool or Wolves in this season’s fourth round while Arsenal, if they get past Oxford, travel to Manchester City, meaning there will be no more than nine top-flight sides in the last 16.

There were nine last season while only three times in the last decade have fewer top-flight teams made round five – eight in 2016-17 and seven in both 2018-19 and 2012-13.

In 2007/08 Pompey were one of only six top flight sides to reach the last 16 - along with Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Middlesbrough.

For the first time since 1908 - exactly 100 years - there was only one top flight club in the semi-finals, and that was Pompey. Barnsley, West Bromwich Albion and Cardiff were the three Championship representatives.