Everyone remembers the bit in Pulp Fiction, where dapper hitmen Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega emerge completely unscathed after being ambushed by a young gunman who had been hiding in the bathroom of an apartment they’re visiting to retrieve that briefcase. Sprayed from close range with a hail of bullets from a “hand cannon”, our intrepid but somehow unharmed duo are left staring in disbelief at both themselves and each other, before turning their own shooters on their hapless would-be killer and blowing him to kingdom come. “We should be [effin] dead, man,” muses Jules, turning to survey the bullet holes in the wall behind him. “I know, we was lucky,” concurs Vincent, prompting a philosophical debate between the colleagues over whether or not “what happened here” was luck or fate.

It is a conundrum which may have occupied the minds of Liverpool’s players as they returned to Merseyside on Sunday, still very much alive in the FA Cup with their berth in the fourth round secured, despite having come under the heaviest fire from every conceivable range from a dizzying array of Gunners, but mostly Kai Havertz. Chucked up front by Mikel Arteta in his latest bid to solve his side’s poor finishing, the hapless would-be assassin left no end of bullet holes in the wall, only to see his team dispatched by a more ruthless Liverpool side that almost certainly won’t care whether their victory was down to good fortune or some sort of divine intervention. When push came to shove, it could be argued that ultimately it was Jürgen Klopp’s men who had the big kahunas.

“What I beg from the supporters is that they are behind the team,” pleaded Arteta, after his side were booed off following their third consecutive domestic defeat. “Stick behind the team, they are incredibly good. They deserve the support with their attitude. I haven’t seen a team in the past six months that has generated what we have done against [Liverpool].” He has a short memory, given that in the past two weeks alone his own team at least managed to generate a goal against them and will now spend some downtime in Dubai figuring out how best to start generating some more as they attempt to win the Premier League and Big Cup.

Liverpool’s win over Arsenal was the penultimate game of an FA Cup third round that, notwithstanding the heroics of non-league Maidstone and Leeds striker Patrick “Bam-Bam” Bamford, was low on surprise. However, with just one game remaining the prospect of an upset remains on the cards, with Plucky Wigan hosting Manchester United at the DW Stadium tonight. Sitting 18th in League One, the Latics are massive underdogs but given some of the humiliations visited upon United already this season, a home win would come as an amusing but hardly seismic shock.

Franz Beckenbauer, widely regarded as one of the finest footballers of all time, and one of only three men to win the World Cup as a player and manager, has died aged 78. Beckenbauer is an icon of German football having won 104 caps for West Germany, captaining them to glory at the 1974 World Cup before repeating the feat, as manager, in Italy 16 years later. He also won numerous other honours, including a hat-trick of European Cups with Bayern Munich in the mid-70s, when he also established his reputation as a defender of supreme talents. His family confirmed the news via a statement to the German press agency DPA. “It is with deep sadness that we announce that my husband and our father, Franz Beckenbauer, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Sunday, surrounded by his family,” it said. “We ask that we can be able to mourn in silence and not be disturbed by any questions.” RIP Der Kaiser.

“We can do fun activities, go out. A lot of boys are bringing their families out [to Dubai] as well, so it’s a chance to meet people’s families. It’s nice to be in the heat, train in the good weather. It’s good for us” – Following Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool, just as boilers reached breaking point across the country, Reiss Nelson took the opportunity to remind people everywhere that not everyone is rewarded for failure in quite the same way.

Join Scott Murray from 7.50pm GMT for hot FA Cup fourth round draw updates before minute-by-minute coverage of Wigan 1-3 Manchester United.

I’m not an expert in probability theory but I believe it was the great Émile Borel who popularised the theorem which states that ‘if you gave an infinite number of Havertzs, an infinite number of balls and sufficient time then eventually one of them would stop taking too many touches and shoot before giving all the opposition defenders time to get back to cover’. This is not that time, however” – Noble Francis.

If Ben Brereton Díaz knew all about Sheffield United before his transfer as their manager Chris Wilder claimed (Friday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition), why on earth did he move there from Villarreal?” – Mick Beeby.

Friday’s Football Daily quotes Sean Dyche, describing the VAR decision to show Dominic Calvert-Lewin a red card for a studs to shin contact on Nathaniel Clyne, saying ‘If you slow down everything, you’re going to find what you are looking for’. If only someone had suggested that to Bono in 1986” – Ed Taylor.

Send your letters to [email protected]. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Mick Beeby.

We were following Sutton United into the third round, where the managerless League Two strugglers were pitted against Plymouth, who were also managerless until they appointed Ian Foster as head coach just hours before the FA Cup tie. He began his tenure with a 3-1 win but being a modest man he didn’t take all of the credit for the win. “I don’t think it was easy for the players for a new head coach to walk in the building as late as I did and they responded well,” he soothed. “I just gave them a few messages this afternoon around the game, but Neil [Dewsnip] and Kevin (Nancekivell) prepared the team really well in my absence.” So now we’ll be following the Pilgrims’ progress into the fourth round. We’ll find out who they face in the tombola later on.

Tony Mowbray has become Birmingham City’s 13th manager in 13 years. “He’s the right leader at the right time for our club,” sniffed club suit Garry Cook.

Erik ten Hag believes (snigger) that Manchester United (chuckle) are the best (howl) club in the world (please stop, no really) to play for – but only if you have the confidence to cope with the pressure. “That is always on those players and the confidence you have in your capabilities,” the Dutchman roared.

Michail Antonio’ knee knack is getting worse. Oh no! West Ham might get a loan signing in as cover. Hurrah!

Kylian Mbappé’s Mr 15%s have dismissed reports that the PSG forward has agreed a move to Real Madrid, instead insisting that talks have not even begun. “No type of influence could dictate the timing of Kylian’s discussions, reflections or decision” snarled a statement.

Our Euro roundup features Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Dusan Vlahovic’s stoppage-time winner and sixth-tier Revel taking on PSG in the French Cup.

And Dorival Júnior has resigned as head coach of São Paulo to take charge of Brazil’s national team. “It is the realisation of a personal dream”, sobbed the 61-year-old.

Our list of the 100 best female footballers in the world comes out this week. We assembled a crack 112-person list of judges that range from Champions League-winning coaches to former and current international players and coaches. From Barcelona head coach Jonatan Giráldez to Brazil legend Sissi to broadcaster Lucy Ward, here is a run down of who compiled our list.

Does reducing the size of a league help teams and the standard of football? Ligue 1 is a good case study and the answer looks like yes, argues Eric Devin. And by complete coincidence, Sean Ingle has written his column on why overworked footballers deliver lower quality games and put themselves at risk.

Pasquale Mazzocchi waited his whole life to pull on the Napoli shirt, and then was sent off four minutes into his debut – a 3-0 defeat to Torino. Nicky Bandini picks over the bones of that red card and the latest Neapolitan defeat.

Suzanne Wrack had a chat with former Lioness Claire Rafferty about her ADHD and why the multipurpose sensory rooms at Wembley help her “feel normal”.

It’s Barney Ronay on Kai Havertz and a flailing Arsenal side.

Ten talking points – count them! – from the weekend’s FA Cup action.

With female footballers up to six times more likely than men to suffer the injury, Sam Kerr’s ACL injury is the latest blow in what is approaching an epidemic in the women’s game, explains Sophie Downey.

Chances are, you don’t know as much about Mário Zagallo as you should. Here’s Samindra Kunti with his tribute to the four-time World Cup winner and late great of the game.

Morocco are favourites to win Afcon – can they repeat their World Cup heroics? Yara El-Shaboury has the (some) answers. And Jonathan Wilson muses on whether an African nation win the World Cup in the next decade (no).

Spectators watch Everton take on Croydon in a Women’s Premier League match at Marine FC’s ground at College Road in Crosby back in September 1998. Everton were the reigning champions but lost their crown that season to their opponents on the day. Fans didn’t have much to get excited about, with the match ending 0-0.