Wayne Rooney of Manchester United kicks at the penalty spot during the FA Cup game agasint Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on January 8th, 2012. [Photo: CFP]

Liverpool eased into the fourth round on Saturday with a 5-1 win over lowly Oldham at Anfield. But the game was marred when Oldham player Tom Adeyemi was allegedly the subject of racist abuse from a spectator as the game drew to a close.

Liverpool have moved quickly to condemn the actions of the spectator and say they will ban the culprit for life should he be found guilty of a public order offence.

Tottenham have booked their place in the next round with a 3-0 win over Cheltenham Town. And Premier League new boys QPR battled to a 1-1 draw courtesy of a last minute equalizer against lowly MK Dons. That result proved to be the last straw for QPR manager Neil Warnock who was dismissed from his post late on Sunday evening.

Undoubtedly, the tie of the round was at the Etihad Stadium where Manchester City played hosts to cross-city rivals Manchester United. In a thrilling third round tie, United raced into a 3-0 lead by half-time courtesy of a double from Wayne Rooney and a fine strike from young forward Danny Welbeck. To add to City's travails, they had influential skipper Vincent Kompany sent off early in the match.

However a brave performance in the second half from Roberto Mancini's ten men very nearly saw them pull off a miraculous fightback against the reigning Premier League champions.

United held on to secure the win, going some way to make up for their embarrassing 6-1 hammering at home to City earlier in the Premier League season.

After the match, City manager Roberto Mancini paid tribute to his players, "I'm very proud of our perfomance. I think it was not easy, but we played a very fantastic performance, I'm very happy. We did very in the second alf, we had other chances to score in the end and we didn't concede any chances for them to score."

But that wasn't to be the end of the FA Cup drama on Sunday though. In the draw for the fourth round, Manchester United were paired with fierce rivals Liverpool at Anfield. That game will be given added spice in light of the recent race row between the two clubs.

And in more drama, England captain John Terry - currently the subject of a police investigation into alleged racism - could go head-to-head with his accuser Anton Ferdinand if QPR come through their replay with MK Dons. Chelsea will host the winners of that tie.

Elsewhere, Arsenal legend Thierry Henry makes his return for the gunners on Monday night after signing a short-term loan deal to return to his former club. They face Leeds United in their FA Cup third round tie.