Is Robinho set to bid farewell to City?

While most of the Premier League concerned itself with the FA Cup, Manchester United took the opportunity to go top of the table. Arsenal's quest for silverware took a blow as they were knocked out by Stoke, although Manchester City and Chelsea progressed...

SO FAREWELL THEN, ROBINHO

It seems that Manchester City fans may have seen the last of Robinho, the talented £32.5m Brazilian who sometimes flickered but never burnt brightly at Eastlands. His performance against Scunthorpe in the FA Cup summed up his time with City nicely. He set up Martin Petrov for City's first after an elaborate series of step-overs, shrugged and shook the hand of Irons keeper Joe Murphy after he denied him twice at close range, and then fired home City's fourth goal before throwing himself into the arms of the City fans. He was given a rousing send off by the fans when he was substituted - will it be his final farewell?

ROONEY RIOT

Manchester United are top of the Premier League thanks to Wayne Rooney who scored all four goals as United brushed Hull aside on Saturday. The England striker was imperious as he bagged four for the first time in his career. Rooney has now scored 21 goals this season for club and country - no wonder his club are set to offer him £150,000-a-week to stay with them. There was more good news for England fans as Rio Ferdinand also returned to the United team.

BECKFORD STRIKES AGAIN

The Leeds striker has obviously developed a taste for the FA Cup and scored another two goals on Saturday as Leeds earned a replay against Tottenham. After knocking out Manchester United in the third round, the Yorkshire club appear to fancy their chances of a trip to Wembley and were unfazed by their second successive away tie at a Premier League club. Out-of-favour Spurs striker Roman Pavlyuchenko appeared to have grabbed the headlines with a goal to put the Londoners 2-1 up, but Beckford would not be denied his moment. In the sixth minute of stoppage time he went down under a Michael Dawson challenge and dusted himself off to cooly fire home the penalty and send the Leeds fans wild. Newcastle had offered £1.5m for the player - it seems his value is now closer to £10m.

ANOTHER BIG NAME FALLS

There are still 11 Premier League teams in the FA Cup, suggesting that there hasn't been that much giant killing going on this season - but what there has been has been pretty impressive. Of the big four only Chelsea remain after Arsenal were the latest big guns to go out. Stoke may be in the same division as the Gunners but their victory should be classed as a giant-killing act. Chelsea remain the favourites after seeing off Preston, but the likes of Spurs, Villa and Manchester City will now be taking the competition very seriously indeed.

CAMPBELL's COMEBACK

The last time Sol Campbell played for Arsenal before their defeat to Stoke they lost a cup tie - albeit the Champions League final to Barcelona. The big defender must be hoping he doesn't play too many more cup games for the Gunners, but he can take some positives from the performance. It is not often that a defender can see his side concede three goals on his debut and still walk away with his head held high, but Campbell played well on his comeback for the Gunners. Unfortunately his centre-back partner Mikael Silvestre was found wanting while right-back 19-year-old Francis Coquelin had something of a nightmare.

CUP FEVER

They say that the magic of the cup is fading - but try telling that to the fans who packed out Scunthorpe's Glanford Park, Accrington Stanley's Frazer Eagle Stadium and the away end at White Hart Lane. The atmosphere in those grounds was electric over the weekend. And the sight of urbane foreign managers and their superstar players enjoying a cold afternoon at somewhere like Scunthorpe is one of the things that makes English football worthwhile. ·