At the start of today, the odds of both Manchester United and Chelsea being out of the FA Cup must have been huge.

sir_alex_ferguson1.jpgWhilst United were at home, they were playing Portsmouth and would have been odds on favourites to take the tie handsomely. Unfortunately, Harry Redknapp has a habit of dumping United out of the Cup and he went and did it again today. By all accounts, United had the lions share of the game and could have had it wrapped up by half time, but missed chances and more heroics from David James kept Pompey in it. With the second half drawing to a close, Tomasz Kuszczak, on at half time for the injured Van de Saar, brought down Baros inside the area and was sent off for his trouble, although replays show he was not even close to being the last defender. Sulley Muntari dispatched the resulting penalty past stand in keeper Rio Ferdinand for Pompey to record a famous win. Apparently Sir Alex is not happy as only 4 minutes of stoppage time was played where his watch indicated 17 minutes according to one Darren Adams.grant2.jpg

In the other game, Chelsea were even bigger favourites to beat Barnsley, although the Yorkshire team had already knocked out Liverpool in an earlier round. Again, the Premiership side had most of the ball but scores were level at half time. Chelsea fell to a sucker punch when a long ball was played into the box by Martin Devaney and Kayode Odejayi outjumped Cudicini in the Chelsea goal to power the header home. Chelsea laid siege to the Barnsley goal for the last 20 minutes but to no avail.

So 1-0 defeats for both Chelsea and United. Favourites for the cup now must be Portsmouth. It’ll be interesting to see what the semis throw up after tomorrows games.