England: FA Cup holders Liverpool beaten by Arsenal

By Ben James

London (dpa) - Holders Liverpool were knocked out of the FA Cup at the third-round stage on Saturday after being beaten 3-1 at home by Arsenal.

Charlton Athletic and Sheffield United also crashed out after suffering defeat at the hands of League One clubs, but Liverpool were the biggest casualty.

Liverpool left Craig Bellamy on the bench and for the first half, they did not threaten Arsenal's goal, despite having most of the possession.

And after soaking up the pressure, Arsenal pounced on the counter-attack with Tomas Rosicky's first-time finish completing a slick move on 36 minutes.

Rosicky then took advantage of a retreating Liverpool defence to score the second on the verge of half-time.

Bellamy remained on the bench in the second half and Dirk Kuyt headed Liverpool back into the game on 70 minutes. But as the home side pushed for an equaliser, Arsenal caught them again.

A mistake from Jamie Carragher allowed Thierry Henry to run in on goal and the Frenchman cut inside before slipping the ball under Jerzy Dudek.

"I think the commitment today was spot on," Henry said.

"In the last 20 minutes we were bombarded with crosses and I think Kolo Toure, Philippe Senderos and Gilberto (Silva) in front of the back four were superb today."

Charlton, second-bottom in the Premiership, were beaten 2-0 at Nottingham Forest. Sheffield, just three places better off, were humbled 3-0 at home by Swansea City.

Junior Agogo and Grant Holt were the heroes for Forest while Thomas Butler scored twice for Swansea.

Frank Lampard scored a hat-trick as cup favourites Chelsea bounced back from some recent disappointments in the Premiership to batter Macclesfield Town 6-1.

The midfielder was not even supposed to be in the starting line- up, but after Lassana Diarra was late for the morning meeting, he was handed a place and took full advantage.

There were also wins for Bolton Wanderers, Portsmouth, Watford and West Ham United.

Newcastle United will have to replay against Birmingham City after drew 2-2 at St Andrews, while Fulham also drew 2-2 at Leicester City, and Middlesbrough drew 1-1 at Hull City.

Premiership leaders Manchester United face Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday. // © 2006 DPA

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