Manchester City into Cup semis, Liverpool to top of Premier League

LONDON, March 17 (Xinhua) -- A weekend split between the quarterfinals of the FA Cup and the Premier league once again produced more than its fair share of drama in England.

Manchester City qualified for the last four of the FA Cup in controversial style and after an early wake-up call as they fought back from 2-0 down against Championship side Swansea, with an 88th minute goal from Kun Aguero booking their ticket to the semis.

Aguero's goal should have been ruled out for offside and Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola admitted as much in his post-game press conference.

"I don't like to win games when the decisions are wrong but the referees don't want to make the wrong decisions, they must be helped. It's centimeters," he said, before adding his side "played incredibly well."

There were different emotions on the other side of Manchester as Manchester United went out of the tournament after losing 2-1 away to Wolves, who took the win thanks to goals from Raul Jimenez and Jota.

It was the second away defeat Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side have suffered in less than a week and the Norwegian admitted it was their worst performance since he had been in charge.

"We lacked urgency and quality on the ball... but don't take anything away from Wolves," he added.

Solskjaer is right to praise the victors, who knocked Liverpool out of the tournament in the third round.

Watford are also in the hat-for the semifinal draw after Etienne Capoue and Andre Gray steered them to a 2-1 win at home to Crystal Palace. Watford have now beaten the South-London team three times in three games this season.

Millwall and Brighton will need a replay to decide who makes the last four after Brighton netted two late goals to stop their second tier rivals reaching the semifinals.

Championship strugglers Millwall led 2-0 through Alex Pearce and Adrian O'Brien, who scored in the 70th and 79th minutes, but an 89th minute strike from Jurgen Locadia gave Brighton late hope and the Premier League side got a second bite at the cherry when Solly March curled home a 95th minute free kick.

In the Premier League, Liverpool suffered seven minutes of nerves away to Fulham after former Anfield old boy Ryan Babel cancelled out Sadio Mane's first half opener for Liverpool with 16 minutes left to play.

However, a bad error from Fulham keeper Sergio Rico, who dropped a cross and then brought down Mane, gave James Milner the chance to put Liverpool back on top of the Premier League from the penalty spot. Milner duly obliged to end a good week for Jurgen Klopp's side, who qualified for the quarterfinals of the Champions League in midweek.

Chelsea meanwhile missed a chance to take a step towards the top-four as they were beaten 2-0 away to Everton. Richarlison opened the scoring following a corner early in the second half and Gylfi Sigurdsson doubled Everton's lead after he followed up after seeing a penalty saved 20 minutes from time.

Elsewhere Brendan Rodgers won his second game in change at Leicester City, despite seeing Harry Maguire sent off in just the fourth minute of his side's away game in Burnley.

James Maddison put 10-man Leicester ahead in the 33rd minute and although Dwight McNeil equalized five minutes later, Wes Morgan scored an injury time header to give Leicester an unlikely win and leave Burnley deep in relegation trouble.

Huddersfield had led 3-1 away to West Ham United, but allowed West Ham to fight back and claim a dramatic 4-3 win with Javier Hernandez scoring goals in the 84th and 91st minutes to leave Huddersfield with just 14 points all season.

Finally Matt Ritchie netted a magnificent late goal to give Newcastle United a vital point in a 2-2 draw away to Bournemouth.