Shearer says: “Mid-table teams should give the FA Cup everything”

Goalscoring great also discusses Morata and Wilshere

Sadly all the talk has been about the refereeing decisions which is a shame as it was a brilliant game of football.

How it was still 0-0 at half-time, I will never know. I thought a draw was a fair result in the end.

Chelsea will be disappointed that they were not able to see the game out at 2-1 up with just minutes to go.

For both teams to put in a performance like that after just playing a few days earlier, was a brilliant advert for the Premier League.

Wilshere & Morata

Wilshere scored a good goal and put in some brilliant passes. He has now started six games in a row.

 It is inevitable that the England chat will come up again but I will reserve judgement on that until he becomes a constant in the Arsenal side.

Alvaro Morata had a number of good chances which he could not take.

The first miss seemed to affect him. He has done OK since joining last summer without setting the world alight.

Last night he had one of those games to forget. If his first chance had gone in, it would have unsettled the crowd, changed the dynamic of the game and his confidence would have been sky high.

Goalkeepers are more crucial than ever

Both defences at times looked all over the place and their ‘keepers got them out of jail.

Courtois pulled off a couple of outstanding saves. The first one was when he got down low to deny Sanchez and then when he had to get up after it had come off the post.

When we see defenders going for £75 million now in the case of Van Dijk, it won’t be long before a ‘keeper goes for that as it is such an important position.

Manchester City paid a world record fee for Ederson which was £35 million but that will change very quickly as a world class keeper will save a lot of points over the course of a season.

Mid-table sides should give the Cup all they’ve got 

I am at Anfield tonight covering the Merseyside Derby for the BBC. We will undoubtedly see clubs rest players in the FA Cup this weekend so I expect there to be a lot of weakened sides played.

You only have to look at what Leicester did in the quarter-final of the EFL Cup. They were ninth in the league at the time and they rested several players.

They had a decent chance because Manchester City included a lot of their fringe players. If they had won that tie they would be in the semi-final with a real opportunity to win a trophy now.

For the big clubs in the league, the FA Cup is the third priority for them in their season so I do understand it in the early rounds.

What I can’t understand is the teams in the middle of the table resting players.

We have seen Wigan win the trophy in recent years, Hull and Millwall have both made the final so it is achievable.

I used to love playing in the FA Cup and it should still be a special competition.