FA Cup Ten things to look out for this weekend FA Cup fifth round: 10 things to look out for this weekend Pogba problems, Conte’s priorities, the tie that neither team wants to win and why Leicester should be aiming for Wembley Kelechi Iheanacho and Danny Simpson, Wigan’s Dan Burn, Jarrod Bowen celebrates, Paul Pogba, Coventry City’s Tom Bayliss and Carlos Carvalhal. Photograph: Composite/Action Images, Getty Images and Rex Shutterstock
1) Are Leicester City genuine contenders?
Of the remaining teams in this season’s FA Cup, it could justifiably be argued that only one is in a position to give the competition their full and undivided attention. Whether it’s chasing other domestic or European titles (or several in the case of Manchester City), a Champions League or play-off place, or simply battling against relegation, no fewer than 15 of the 16 clubs have more pressing concerns , while Leicester City have no such distractions. Safely positioned in mid-table and just five points shy of the 40 that probably won’t even be required to guarantee safety, they may well secure theirs in consecutive league matches against Stoke, Bournemouth and West Brom. With that in mind, it’s difficult to escape the conclusion that it would be a gross dereliction of duty if Leicester did not go all-out to win the FA Cup for the first time, having lost the most recent of their four final appearances in 1969. They have rested key players in previous rounds, but with a home draw against Sheffield United and a quarter-final place up for grabs, Claude Puel ought to wheel out this heaviest artillery. With so many high end Premier League sides left in the competition, there would be no shame in not winning the competition, but as things stand it would be remiss of them not to give it their very best shot. BG
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2) Hull down to barest of bones
Nigel Adkins is probably without more players than he can call upon. Three of his squad, Fikayo Tomori, Ola Aina and Michael Hector, are ineligible to play against Chelsea, their parent club while Seb Larsson is suspended and there a handful of injury doubts too. Therefore the onus will again be on the impressive Jarrod Bowen, the 21-year-old who netted at Nottingham Forest in the previous round. The striker, who joined the club from Hereford in 2014, has scored 13 goals this season and has been one of few highlights amid the doom and gloom of Hull’s disastrous season, with the club fighting to stay in the Championship. He has quickly won several Premier League admirers too. A trip to Chelsea will likely prove testing for an out-of-sorts Hull team but Bowen, at least, is sure to relish rising to the challenge. BF
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3) Blackman faces tall task of keeping out Leicester
Jamal Blackman does not turn 25 until October but already has quite the CV, and doubtless a trophy cabinet to match. The 6ft6in Sheffield United goalkeeper, on loan from Chelsea, picked up a Champions League winners’ medal in 2012, after being part of Roberto Di Matteo’s successful squad in Munich. The same year he lifted the FA Youth Cup with Chelsea and last year was part of the Wycombe Wanderers team that ran Tottenham almightily close in a 4-3 defeat at White Hart Lane in this competition. Since progressing through the Chelsea academy, he has been loaned to Middlesbrough, Östersunds and beyond. Most importantly, he has impressed for the Blades this season and another strong display on Friday night, when they travel to Leicester looking to shutout Kelechi Iheanacho and co on home turf, will only enhance his development. BF
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4) Has Sanchez created a Pogba problem?
José Mourinho’s relationship with Paul Pogba has become a simmering problem for Manchester United. Subbed off in his last two starts, both defeats, benched in the game between that, a 2-0 home stroll past Huddersfield, has an £89m signing become dispensable? A suggestion made by L’Equipe on Thursday was that Pogba holds regrets about re-joining United in the summer of 2016. Pogba played his best football on the left of a midfield trio for Juventus but Alexis Sánchez’s arrival on the left wing has Mourinho reluctant to leave that side of his defence unprotected. Sánchez’s demands to play every game, including cup matches, caused problems with Arsène Wenger, and whether Mourinho is similarly indulgent at Huddersfield will be telling. And where might that leave Pogba? From a choice of left midfield, sitting deeper or substitute, Pogba’s favourite position seems the least likely Mourinho option. Resting Pogba altogether from action at the Kirklees Stadium might be the pragmatic, expedient decision. JB
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Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alexis Sánchez does not like being rested, as Arsène Wenger found. Photograph: Chris Brunskill Ltd/Getty Images
5) A tie both teams will be happy to lose?
In an episode of the criminally under-rated sit-com Malcolm In The Middle entitled Water Park, the titular character’s older brother, Francis, incurs the wrath of his Marlin Academy superior Commandant Spangler when the military veteran discovers he has been letting him win at pool and is in fact an accomplished hustler. To cut a long and convoluted story short, the pair end up in a titanic battle, featuring a dizzying array of outrageous trick-shots, to see who can lose each frame of 8-ball in the most spectacular fashion. While we are not suggesting that either West Brom or Southampton would deliberately tank their chances of advancing to this season’s FA Cup quarter-finals, it is this scene – minus the skill and technique – that springs to mind while pondering what might unfold between these two relegation-threatened Premier League sides when they face each other this weekend. BG
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6) Are Conte’s eyes on FA Cup prize?
If Antonio Conte actually wants to stay in the Chelsea job – and the outward signs are that he is not bothered either way – then Monday’s 3-0 victory over West Brom gave welcome respite. With reports of Luis Enrique being a shoo-in for his role, the FA Cup, should he last as long as May, could be an ideal way to wave off to those fans who still sing his name in the Stamford Bridge stands. For a manager of such standing, it is curious that Conte is still yet to celebrate victory in a knockout competition. His team selection against Hull might indicate how serious he might be about breaking that duck, though with Barcelona next week in mind, Friday is almost certainly a night for the fringe performers. The likes of Danny Drinkwater and Ross Barkley, players whose presence at Chelsea appears to bemuse their boss, seem likely to be given a low-key chance to shine against Championship strugglers. JB
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Facebook Twitter Pinterest Despite his team’s troubles, Conte remains popular with fans at Stamford Bridge. Photograph: Craig Mercer/CameraSport
7) A Carvalhal reunion at Hillsborough
Swansea’s surprise managerial appointment, Carlos Carvalhal, gets a quick return to his former stomping ground of Hillsborough, where he will stand in the adjacent technical area to his former club’s equally surprising choice of successor, Jos Luhukay. Sheffield Wednesday’s new manager had not got off to the best of starts, but a maiden league win against Derby County on Tuesday night will have silenced any hoots of disapproval from Owls fans. Lucas João scored either side of half-time in that win, prompting Derby manager Gary Rowett to describe him as unplayable. A peripheral figure in Wednesday’s squad during Carvalhal’s reign, the 24-year-old appears to have hit his straps at exactly the right time to show his former manager exactly what he can do. BG
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8) City an unwelcome distraction for Wigan
Wigan have wobbled since toppling West Ham in the previous round, losing to Blackpool and Southend so the visit of Manchester City – although a free hit – is the last thing Paul Cook’s promotion chasers need. The Liverpudlian manager joked this week that he has asked the Football Association whether they can tackle City with 14 men. After hitting seven past Oxford before Christmas, they were seven points clear of third place but now have Blackburn Rovers breathing down their necks. These kind of games tend to go one of two ways; they either galvanise a team before the run-in or act as a distraction, leaving them devoid of all legs. Bristol City, for example, are still recovering from doing battle with City over two legs. After facing City, they face three league games in eight days. So, what will be the lasting effect of Wigan’s joust with City on Monday night? BF
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9) Locadia ready to make Seagulls bow
The lowest ranked side left in this year’s competition, Coventry City sit 63 places below their hosts, Brighton, on the league ladder. Despite a lowly League Two status inflicted upon them after years of hideously neglectful ownership, an incredible 28,343 supporters turned up at the Ricoh Arena to see them lose against Accrington last weekend following a successful promotion run by the club to help take the usual bare look off a stadium that usually struggles to attract crowds of more than six thousand. An insipid midweek defeat against Colchester, their third on the spin, has derailed Coventry’s promotion push and the absence through injury of their captain Michael Doyle, who will be forced to sit out their trip to Brighton this weekend. Few beyond Brighton fans would begrudge the 1987 FA Cup winners a place in the quarter-finals but unless they massively improve on recent performances, the Amex Stadium is where this year’s fairytale journey will end. Those same Brighton fans will be keeping their eyes peeled for a first sighting of their record signing, the Dutch striker Jürgen Locadia, the £14m January acquisition from PSV Eindhoven who has recovered from a hamstring injury and looks guaranteed to feature in Chris Hughton’s match-day plans. BG
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10) A shop window for Rochdale’s relegation-threatened journeymen
Rock bottom of League One, nine points from safety and with just one win in the third tier since late November, Rochdale welcome Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday as they attempt to make the quarter-finals for the first time in their history. They have played in the fifth round twice before, going out to Crystal Palace in 1990 and Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2003. Sunday’s visitors to Spotland get a considerable amount of stick for being relentlessly fawned over without ever actually winning any silverware, while Rochdale have quite literally never won a trophy on which the word “Lancashire” was not engraved. A team comprised of jobbing low-end journeymen who look destined for relegation could ask for no better shop window to showcase their talents and will be relishing the prospect of getting stuck into a Tottenham team that showed little or no appetite for a similar kind of scrap against Newport County at Rodney Parade. For Tottenham, this is quite the return to earth after their midweek adventures in Turin and romantics will be hoping Keith Hill will have his team primed to ensure their opponents landing is anything but smooth. BG
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Four first-half goals put Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-finals, while Jamie Vardy’s clever header ensured Leicester joined them in the last eight
Charlie Nicholas previews this weekend's FA Cup action
Charlie Nicholas delivers his predictions for the FA Cup fifth round - and backs Huddersfield to trouble Manchester United again.
Liverpool followed Arsenal in suffering a surprise exit in the last round of action and, after avoiding each other in the fifth-round draw, the remaining members of the top six will be looking to avoid upsets.
Here's what Charlie is predicting for the eight ties...
We always have to take on board the situations the sides are trapped in and Swansea's position is clearly one which makes this match less important.
However, Carvahal will want to prove a point and say: 'I actually did really well for two seasons and you turned on me after one bad derby result'.
Carlos Carvalhal has masterminded Swansea's upturn after leaving Sheffield Wednesday
A replay won't suit either of these but I think that will be what they end up with after a feisty affair.
Charlie predicts: 1-1 and Lucas Joao to score first (22/1 with Sky Bet)
With Coventry in the shake-up for the play-offs and Brighton still in the relegation mix, neither of these sides really need this game right now.
Coventry shocked Stoke in the third round
Brighton are at home and they've got a bit of momentum, which is so important at this time of the year, so I'd like to think they'll look to build on that by going with a strong side.
Charlie predicts: 3-0 and Jose Izquierdo to score first (35/1 with Sky Bet)
Who wants this game less? Which line-up will they play? The win West Brom got at Exeter, when Jay Rodriguez and Salomon Rondon scored, put them on a nice little run which made you think they could get out of the relegation mix.
Jay Rodriguez has been tipped to be the matchwinner in an all-Premier League affair
I think West Brom will be marginally more positive as they're at home and I'm going for Rodriguez to score against his old club in a tetchy affair.
Charlie predicts: 1-0 and Rodriguez to score first (25/1 with Sky Bet)
After last Sunday you've got to think Huddersfield must fancy a repeat of their victory back in October. Jose Mourinho won't want his side embarrassed twice but they've a Champions League tie in Seville midweek to think about.
Huddersfield players celebrate after beating Manchester United 2-1 in the league
Manchester United are going through this dilemma as to how they fit in Alexis Sanchez. They want to give him the free role but that means Paul Pogba can't have that freedom.
Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard have gone a bit cold after doing so well, so I can see another dangerous game for United.
Charlie predicts: 2-2 and Sanchez to score first (55/1 with Sky Bet)
I thought we were going have a good old gritty cup tie and then Rochdale decided to put down a new pitch.
Mauricio Pochettino will make a good few changes because that show of mental strength in Juventus will have been a really draining experience.
Fernando Llorente may take up the mantle in attack for Tottenham
Fernando Llorente and Moussa Sissoko will come in as Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen in particular need a rest. Heung-min Son should start and with the new pitch, I think Spurs will get the job done.
I think this will be another game for Toby Alderweireld to be eased back in again. I don't think there is anything more to his absence than managing his recovery because Pochettino is a very honest and open man.
Charlie predicts: 0-2 and Son to score first (13/1 with Sky Bet)
Wigan will have the great memories to motivate them here from their FA Cup win.
However, I think this will be another canter for Pep Guardiola's men, with Leroy Sane back in the mix, perhaps resting Sergio Aguero.
Leroy Sane, back from injury, could be involved in the FA Cup
With no midweek game it should be a pretty strong City side so I can only see a third successive defeat for Wigan and City to move another step closer to the quadruple.
Charlie predicts: 0-3 and Sane to score first (18/1 with Sky Bet)
Chelsea v Hull (Friday, 8pm)
Are Chelsea back in business? No. It was a result they needed against West Brom but once again they relied on Eden Hazard to do everything.
They're one bad result away from being back in the focus again and with Barcelona and two trips to Manchester to follow they are still in a volatile position.
Alvaro Morata is set to be involved bu Charlie Nicholas expects Chelsea to rest Eden Hazard
They'll win this but it still won't mean they are back on track because the tensions between Antonio Conte and the board are only going to resurface as we get closer to the summer.
Hull have picked up a little bit, not before time. I didn't quite see them being in the position they found themselves in.
They'll sit in and defend and the good news for them in that Chelsea need to give Hazard a rest ahead of such an important run of fixtures. Alvaro Morata and Willian will come in and they should have enough to record a comfortable win.
Chelsea 3-0 and Willian to score first (18/1 with Sky Bet)
I think Riyad Mahrez will start on Friday and it is a nice opportunity for him to start to get the crowd behind him. I don't think they'll turn on him unless he looks lazy.
Riyad Mahrez is set to return to the Leicester starting line-up
Leicester are in a situation where they're not going to make Europe and certainly not go down, so why not go for it? They've won a couple of League Cup titles and the Premier League, so why not have a real go for this competition?
Charlie predicts: 3-1 and Mahrez to score first (45/1 with Sky Bet)
And that's where we leave you for today, many thanks to those who stayed with us. It was an eventful afternoon with Jose Mourinho vehemently denying rumours of a rift with star midfielder Paul Pogba.
We'll see how Manchester United get on at Huddersfield tomorrow, live on 5 live remember. Very best wishes to all your respective teams, particularly the one in green and white hoping for a long overdue win at Nyewood Lane. Cheerio now.
