Having watched or listened to a few FA cup games recently I have been heartened by the quality and pluck of some of the lower league teams involved. Huddersfield unlucky against Arsenal, Notts County currently holding the Manc Millionaires, Leyton Orient beating Swansea..etc. Also dare I say it - Leeds and Ipswich not embarrassing themselves against Arsenal either in cups either. Leads to my main point really, is the Premiership/Lower League gap blown out of proportion? Or is it that these bigger teams are fielding less than full strength squads (which is a shame for the future of the FA cup)?
Just look at hull,Stoke,Newcastle,Blackpool in conparison to teams who got premoted say 5 hrs ago eg derby. The gap is closing but not due to a lack of quality in the prem but in the inprovements to the football league. Every game in any. League now has to be fought for.