England

There have been a few false dawns but there is growing belief that Manchester United are on the cusp of reclaiming their place as the pre-eminent force in English football.

They are top of the Premier League table after New Year's Day for the first time since Alex Ferguson's glittering dynasty ended with his retirement in 2013, since when they watched first Manchester City and then Liverpool disappear into the distance.

In its most basic form, soccer is a simple game of kicking a sphere into a designated rectangle. Despite the simplicity, this elementary sport possesses the capability to capture an infinite range of emotions and moments. This magic of the game is why we love it so much.

One of these heartwarming moments took place during Saturday’s FA Cup tie between Sheffield Wednesday and Exeter City.

LONDON — Fulham manager Scott Parker has criticised the Premier League for re-arranging his side's game at Tottenham Hotspur for Wednesday, giving him only 48 hours to prepare his players.

Fourth-placed Spurs were scheduled to face Aston Villa on Wednesday but that match was postponed after a COVID-19 outbreak forced the closure of the Midlands club's training ground.

Instead, Tottenham's home game with Fulham, itself postponed two hours before kickoff on Dec. 30 after a COVID outbreak amongst the Fulham squad, has been squeezed in.

Manchester United will host Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup after the two arch rivals were drawn together on Monday, with the game set to be played a week after their Premier League summit clash.

The two sides, who are both top of the Premier League table and go head-to-head in the league on Sunday, meet in the cup for the first time since Dirk Kuyt scored a late winner as Liverpool beat United 2-1 in January 2012. United have not beaten Liverpool since March 2018, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer yet to taste victory against Jürgen Klopp's side in four attempts.

Premier League Leeds United suffered the biggest upset of the FA Cup Third Round when they fell to a 3-0 defeat by fourth-tier Crawley Town on Sunday as Manchester City and Chelsea eased through.

A brilliant solo strike from Nick Tsaroulla in the 50th minute put League Two Crawley in front after a first half in which Leeds had caused them few problems.

Sunday’s FA Cup Third Round meeting between Tottenham Hotspur, fourth-place in the Premier League, and Marine AFC, sixth-place in the Northern Premier League Division One North West, represented a record gap of 161 places in the English football pyramid.

The prospect of the greatest giant killing of all time — and the spectacle of José Mourinho’s side visiting Rossett Park in Merseyside — allowed Marine to compensate for the potential loss in revenue of playing the match behind closed doors by selling 20,000 virtual tickets.

Three of English soccer's minor leagues said on Friday they wanted their season halted and declared null and void due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Southern, Northern Premier and Isthmian Leagues — whose clubs form the seventh and eight tiers of the soccer system — issued a joint statement reviewing the implications of the latest government lockdown.