El Ghazi can expect warm Villa welcome
The trip to Aston Villa looks tricky for Cardiff City, whose main focus is avoiding relegation to League One. Anwar El Ghazi, at least, was delighted with the draw. The Dutchman spent four years at Villa, clinching promotion at Wembley at the end of a loan season in 2018-19 before a permanent move from Lille. El Ghazi scored Villa’s first goal in a playoff final victory over Derby, with John McGinn and Tyrone Mings the only survivors from that team. Both clubs’ futures hinged on that game under the arch: Derby spiralled and faced administration before dropping into the third tier. El Ghazi can count on a hero’s welcome at Villa Park on Friday. Villa, who will visit Club Brugge for a Champions League last 16 first-leg tie on Tuesday, hope to advance to the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time since ending as runners-up to Arsenal 10 years ago. Ben Fisher
Will Esse line up for a Millwall reunion?
Romain Esse has been used sparingly by Oliver Glasner since he moved across south London to join Crystal Palace from Millwall in January. Despite scoring on his debut against Brentford after coming off the bench, that remains the 19-year-old’s only appearance in the Premier League. Esse also came on as a substitute in the last round of the FA Cup against Doncaster. After a week in which Palace have recorded two excellent victories, could the fifth-round meeting with his former club at Selhurst Park be an opportunity to give him more minutes? Millwall will relish their role as potential party poopers but Esse could come back to haunt them. Ed Aarons
Deepdale unlikely to host a goalfest
Preston’s clash with Burnley is one of three fifth-round ties this season that involve two former winners (along with Aston Villa v Cardiff and Nottingham Forest v Ipswich), though Preston last got past this stage in 1966. It is unlikely to be high-scoring: before October these teams had played out one goalless draw in 26 meetings this century. In both Championship games this season, the most recent played at Deepdale just two weeks ago, there were just three shots on target, none of which went in. Preston have scored 36 goals in the league this season, at the rate of 1.06 a game – only six Championship sides have scored fewer – while Burnley have conceded only nine times in their 34 league games, less than half as many as the next best defence in all four divisions (Birmingham, with 19), and remarkably only once in all competitions since Christmas. Simon Burnton
Preston v Burnley, Saturday 12.15pm
Cherries’ chance to break hegemony
What the Cup needs, above anything, is a medium-sized club to end the “big six” stranglehold on the old pot, and opportunity knocks loudly for Bournemouth. Some sparkling football in the past couple of months has had Cherries fans thinking excitedly of Europa League or even Champions League football next season. But with fine league form jolted by two consecutive defeats and a thicket of clubs encroaching on that path to a top-six place, a preferable route to the continent is surely presented by the Cup. Bournemouth have never progressed further than the quarter-finals, falling at that stage in 1957 and 2021, but the chance to avenge last week’s league defeat by a Wolves side preoccupied by relegation fears should be taken by Andoni Iraola’s team. Frustratingly, though, Iraola still doesn’t have a full-strength squad to choose from, with the redoubtable Illia Zabarnyi suspended and Ryan Christie a doubt after limping off in the loss at Brighton. Wolves have not looked like relegation candidates in recent weeks, but Bournemouth should step up and seize their opportunity. Tom Davies
City fighting for sole chance of silverware
After last week’s Champions League elimination by Real Madrid and a title defence that has them 20 points behind the leaders Liverpool, along with October’s Carabao Cup exit at Tottenham, the FA Cup is the only trophy Manchester City can win this season. Such ill tidings for their visitors from the Championship are further enhanced by Pep Guardiola’s desire to keep only his first season in charge, in 2016-17, the only barren one of a gilded tenure. Erling Haaland returned from a knee injury to score the winner against Spurs in the league on Wednesday and Guardiola was asked if it was a sign that the “old” City had returned. “Never will this season be the old City,” he said. “The old City was too good. But we’ll be back.” Jamie Jackson
Plymouth’s away form is improving
Before Miron Muslic was appointed last month Plymouth had draw three and won none of their 14 away games in the league, matches on their travels ending with a miserable average score of 2.5-0.2. Since the Austrian’s arrival their average away game has ended 1.67-1. At Sunderland in late January, for the first and only time in the league so far this season, they were even winning away from home (albeit thanks to an own goal and only for two minutes). “I’m completely aware of the terrible record we have away but these are also things you can change and turn around,” Muslic said after the 1-1 draw at Luton earlier this month. “I think we are improving in a million things.” In this context their 1-0 win at Brentford in the third round is at least as much of a glorious anomaly as the 1-0 victory over Liverpool that brought them to the fifth round, but this test will be at a different level. Brentford made six changes and Liverpool 10; the question here is how many Pep Guardiola feels he can get away with. SB
Will Newcastle rest their best?
Eddie Howe is less gung ho than he used to be. Players carrying injuries are no longer pushed through the pain barrier but rested when they hit the fatigued “red zone” while Newcastle’s default high-intensity style is not their automatic modus operandi these days. Howe also appreciates that it is not heretical to prioritise certain games. Much as he insists he wants to beat Brighton in the FA Cup, he knows that winning the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool and Champions League qualification are Newcastle’s prime targets. Accordingly it will be no surprise if the “slightly injured” Alexander Isak sits out a second successive game and a few fringe players enjoy rare run outs. Joelinton and Sven Botman may get some minutes following recent injuries but it will be interesting to see if Howe persists with Nick Pope, rusty since his own return from injury, or recalls Martin Dubravka in goal. Louise Taylor
Newcastle v Brighton, Sunday 1.15pm
Fulham hope to repeat result from 1908
In March 1908, Fulham and Manchester United met in the FA Cup with United top of the league and on their way to the first title in their history and the Cottagers sixth in the second division. What followed, in the words of the Manchester Guardian (as it was then), “illustrated the glorious uncertainty of the game”. Our report suggests the match had all the hallmarks of a freak result: “a very lucky goal scored in the first quarter of an hour” (Herbert Burgess, the United defender, booted a clearance into Fulham’s Fred Harrison and it rebounded into the net), a freakishly good performance by a defender (Billy Morrison “stood head and shoulders above his colleagues; his head or his feet were always in somebody’s way”) and the favourites experiencing some “vile luck” for good measure. “Fulham rose to the occasion all round in splendid fashion,” we concluded, “but on the general run of the play they scarcely deserved to win.” Win they did, though, 2-1, their last Cup victory over United and a result they will hope to emulate this weekend. SB
Manchester United v Fulham, Sunday 4.30pm
Ipswich will fear Forest’s set-piece danger
Since thrashing seven goals past Brighton on the first day of the month, February has been an awkward one for Nottingham Forest: they needed extra time and penalties to beat 10-man Exeter in the fourth round of the Cup, lost to both Fulham and Newcastle, and on Wednesday drew 0-0 with Arsenal. There was evident relief in Nuno Espírito Santo’s description of a battling performance against Mikel Arteta’s side: “The most important thing was to realise how we do things … the positive is the clean sheet and, more than anything, finding ourselves as a team again with the way we do things.” Ipswich might consider this soul-searching a bit of an overreaction to a couple of poor results, given that they have lost six of their eight league games this calendar year. On Wednesday they conceded three times from set pieces at Manchester United, and Kieran McKenna admitted “we weren’t able to deal with United’s strength and physicality in the penalty box”. They will be braced for another test against a team that has been outscored from set pieces only by Arsenal in the league this season. SB
Nottingham Forest v Ipswich, Monday 7.30pm
Do not fear, VAR is back to save the FA Cup
The fourth round gave us a pleasing smattering of magical moments. Perhaps your soul was stirred by Plymouth’s giant-killing of Liverpool, or the stunning goals fashioned by Birmingham’s Tomoki Iwata and Leyton Orient’s Jamie Donley. Alternatively, you might just have spent the weekend bemoaning Harry Maguire’s offside goal for Manchester United against Leicester and the absence of VAR. In which case, bellyache no more, for the soothing balm of technology is back for the fifth round to guarantee us no more controversies. Even more excitingly, we also have semi-automated offside technology, aimed at speeding up decisions, being trialled at all ties except Preston’s meeting with Burnley, the only match not hosted by a Premier League team. The introduction of the technology, which was used at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, was delayed while further refinements were made. Professional Game Match Officials Limited and Premier League officials have declared themselves satisfied with its progress and it’s all systems go, so expect no more arguments about offside ever again. TD
