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It was a very busy week for English football. The weekend saw the fourth round of the FA Cup, there was a full programme of Premiership games in mid-week, and to top it all, there was a League Cup semi-final, not to mention the end of the mid-season transfer window. Phew!

While in most countries the knockout cup competitions take a back seat to the league, the English FA Cup is at least in the passenger seat alongside the Premiership. The appeal of the tournament is undoubtedly tied up with its history – the first one was played in the 1871-72 season, Wanderers beating the Royal Engineers 1-0 at … the Oval, now famous as a cricket ground – and also its potential for giant-killing.

Unlike the League (‘Carling’) Cup, which involves only the 92 clubs from the top four divisions in the country, the FA cup is open to all clubs which are members of the Football Association, from the most modest district side to the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea, and this season a record 687 (!) clubs entered. As the tournament progresses, the small teams naturally fall by the wayside, but when the Premiership clubs enter at the third round proper, there is always the hope, at least from neutral fans, that a team from the lower divisions, even a non-league team, can beat one of the giants of the game. This season, the biggest third-round shock was Premiership side Sheffield United losing 0-3 at home to Swansea of League One (third tier).

Unfortunately (for this neutral fan) there were no major upsets in the fourth round, except perhaps the 5-1 thrashing of Premiership side Newcastle at home to Birmingham City (not strictly speaking a giant-killing as Birmingham were in the Premiership until last season, but embarrassing for Newcastle nonetheless). Elsewhere, one of the best displays was by Bristol City of League One, who came bravely back from 0-2 down to draw 2-2 with Middlesborough at home. They will have a replay, as will Arsenal and Bolton, who drew 1-1. Most of the other major teams (Liverpool were knocked out in the third round) are among the 16 with their eyes on the rebuilt Wembley, which will be the venue for the Final for the first time in six years. Favourites with the bookmakers are Chelsea, who play Blackpool or Norwich, and second favourites are Manchester United, who have a potentially complicated tie at home to Reading, the surprise team of the Premiership this season.

So the bookmakers have ignored the current ranking in the Premiership, where Manchester United are still six points ahead of Chelsea after both teams won comfortably on Wednesday, United 4-0 at home to seemingly doomed Watford, Chelsea 3-0 at home to Blackburn Rovers. At the bottom, Wigan joined the three other favourites for the drop (West Ham, Charlton and Watford) after their eighth (!) consecutive league defeat, this time 2-3 at Reading. A year ago, Wigan were riding high in their first season in the Premiership, while Reading were running away with the Championship (second tier). Wigan fans will be praying they can hold onto their place in the top division.

North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham didn’t have a Premiership game this time because they were busy thrilling us with a pulsating League (‘Carling’) Cup semi-final second leg. The first game had finished 2-2, and the second one, at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, also ended in a draw (1-1) , which meant that the game went to extra-time. Arsenal proved the stronger and scored two more to win 5-3 on aggregate. They meet Chelsea in the Final.

In Scotland. the big news story of the week was the naming of Alex McLeish as the new coach of the national team, taking over from Walter Smith, who returned to Ibrox, home of Rangers. McLeish was at Rangers until he was sacked in February 2006. We’ll see whether he can carry on Smith’s good work: Scotland are top of their Euro 2008 qualifying group, ahead of giants France and Italy (!).

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