Saturday's FA Cup fifth round action saw a batch of interesting results with the most magnified being Arsenal losing at Sunderland to make it a seventh season without a trophy for Arsene Wenger.
At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea fell behind to Birmingham City who scored through David Murphy before grabbing an equaliser just after the hour-mark through Daniel Sturridge. Despite dominating proceedings in the second half, Chelsea were unable to break down the visitor and will have to settle for a return fixture at St Andrew's on March 6.
Everton did what was expected of them by defeating Blackpool 2-0 at Goodison Park thanks to early goals from Royston Drenthe and Denis Stracqualursi before Seasiders veteran Kevin Phillips put his 90th minute penalty over the bar as Bolton got the job done with the same scoreline at Millwall thanks to goals from Ryo Myaichi and David N'Gog.
The surprise result of the day saw tier two club Leicester City eliminate top flight newcomers Norwich City 2-1 at Carrow Road courtesy of David Nugent's winner with just under 20 minutes remaining. Sean St Ledger put the Foxe in front before Wesley Hoolahan responded but Nigel Pearson's men did enough to put themselves into the quarter-finals.
And in the final game of the first day of the fifth round, Sunderland dumped a hapless Arsenal from the cup with a 2-0 victory at the Stadium of Light via a first-half Kieran Richardson strike and an unlucky own goal by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Tomorrow sees Crawley Town host Stoke City, Tottenham away at Stevenage and Liverpool at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
2011/12 FA Cup fifth round scores
Chelsea (PREM): 1 (Daniel Sturridge 62') Birmingham City (CHA): 1 (David Murphy 20') Stamford Bridge, London
Everton (PREM): 2 (Royston Drenthe 1', Denis Stracqualursi 6') Blackpool (CHA): 0 (missed penalty: Kevin Phillips 90') Goodison Park, Liverpool
Norwich City (PREM): 1 (Wesley Hoolahan 23') Leicester City (CHA): 2 (Sean St Ledger 5', David Nugent 71') Carrow Road, Norwich
Millwall (CHA): 0 Bolton (PREM): 2 (Ryo Miyaichi 4', David N'Gog 58') The New Den, London
Sunderland (PREM): 2 (Kieran Richardson 40', Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (og) 77') Arsenal (PREM): 0 Stadium of Light, Sunderland
