Sports Blog 19/02/2016: Match Preview – FA Cup 5th Round, Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st February 2016

A busy week of football continues with a Premier League-heavy FA Cup 5th-round that, sadly, features painfully few chances of a competition-defining giant-killing.

First up is a replay of the 2013/14 final (and last season’s 3rd round fixture), as Arsenal host Hull at 12.45pm on BT Sport 1. Fresh off a vital 2-1 victory over league leaders Leicester, a win that saw the Gunners climb to 2 points away from the Foxes (but still behind Tottenham on goal difference), Arsene Wenger will be hoping his side can progress with minimal fuss this Saturday. So far Arsenal’s FA Cup journey has been relatively bump-free, confident 3-1 and 2-1 wins over Sunderland and Burnley respectively seeing them still in the running for a record 13th title. Wenger is expected to field a somewhat second string team, with David Opsina taking over from Petr Cech in goal, as focus remains on the daunting task of taking down Barcelona next week.



Yet Hull will likely be just as distracted as Arsenal; the Tigers remain at the top of the Championship with just 2 points separating them and 2nd place Middlesbrough (the latter still, however, with a game in hand), and won’t want to dent their chances of automatic promotion with an exhausting run out at Arsenal. Hull have been a bit sloppy since February began, losing to Burnley, beating Blackburn and drawing 0-0 against Brighton, wasting chance upon chance to open up a significant gap between themselves and Boro. Though the Tigers are arguably better equipped to face the Gunners than they were during last season’s relegation battle (and they memorably ran them close in that 2013/14 final) our Spreadex traders are expecting a routine win from the North London side, offering an Arsenal/Hull Goal Supremacy spread of 1-1.2 with a Total Goals spread of 2.6-2.8.

Saturday afternoon sees one of the weekend’s all-top flight affairs, as Everton travel to Bournemouth at 5.15pm on BBC One. Everton remain one of the league’s most inconsistent, yet sporadically brilliant, sides, veering between phenomenal attacking displays and calamitous breakdowns at the back. In Romelu Lukaku they have a player with 20 goals in all competitions (his 16 in the league making in the 2nd joint top scorer); yet the Toffees are now languishing in 11th place, a run of two back-to-back 3-0 wins ended by a 1-0 loss at home to West Brom. In the FA Cup, at least, they haven’t fumbled (yet), progressing with easy 2-0 and 3-0 wins over the lowly likes of Dagenham & Redbridge and Carlisle United.



Whilst not necessarily the easiest fixture they could have got, an away game at Bournemouth is still far preferable to some of Everton’s alternative 5th round options. Sitting in 15th place on 28 points, and with more than a chance of being dragged back into the relegation battle (18th place Newcastle are only 4 points away) Bournemouth have, bar a few fantastic performances, failed to step up to the Premier League in the same way as their fellow promotees Watford. Their FA Cup form has been moderately better, late 2-1 wins away at Birmingham and Portsmouth securing their home tie against the Toffees. Yet their journey may end there, Spreadex offering an Everton/Bournemouth (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.2-0.4 with a Total Goals spread of 2.6-2.8.

Early Sunday afternoon then sees an out of form West Ham visit a beleaguered Blackburn at 2pm on BT Sport 2. Despite winning just one of their past 5 Premier League appearances (a routine victory over Aston Villa) the Hammers still find themselves in 7th place, equal on points with 6th place Southampton and only one away from Louis van Gaal’s miserable Man United in 5th. Their FA Cup progress hasn’t been particularly inspiring either; it took an 84th minute goal from Nikica Jelavic to put them past Wolves in the 3rd round, before a last gasp, end of extra time, strike from Angelo Ogbonna saw West Ham beat Liverpool in their 4th round replay at Upton Park.



Not that Blackburn look like they will post much of a threat; stuck in 18th place in the Championship, 8 points above the relegation zone and far, far away from the play-off places, the FA Cup is realistically the only thing the Rovers have going for them this season. They haven’t, however, really been challenged in the competition; a niggling affair at Newport County, with a red card for each side, ended 2-1 after a 75th minute penalty from Jordan Rhodes (who has since decamped to Middlesbrough in another blow to Blackburn this season), whilst they romped past Oxford United 3-0 in the 4th round. Despite the fact that the Rovers only just ended a 10 game losing streak in the Championship on Tuesday, the Hammers’ shaky form does complicate matters, leaving them with a slight West Ham/Blackburn (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.15-0.35 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.25-2.45.

The final game of the weekend is the ostensible highlight, as an improving Chelsea host a faltering Manchester City at 4pm on BBC One. It was unlucky number 13 for Guus Hiddink, losing his first game since taking over for Jose Mourinho as Chelsea fell 2-1 to PSG. However, it was in no way a bad performance, one that, thanks to a crucial away goal, more than keeps them in the running to reach the Champions League quarter-finals. It also came off the back of a 12 game unbeaten run (the Blues most recently putting 5 past Newcastle) that includes FA Cup wins over Scunthorpe and Milton Keynes Dons.



Manchester City, on the other hand, have had their title hopes severely harmed in the past fortnight. That infamous 3-1 loss to Leicester was soon followed by a 2-1 defeat to Tottenham, leaving City 6 points off the top spot and 4 points away from 3rd place Arsenal. They have been far more consistent in the FA Cup; dismantling Norwich and Aston Villa 3-0 and 4-0 respectively City’s 3rd and 4th round matches were most notable for the rise and rise of Kelechi Iheanacho, at a Super Mega PGM of 12-16,who scoring 4 of those 7 goals (and nabbed another against Spurs last weekend). Yet with their London rivals on the up and up Sunday provides a far tougher challenge than those relegation-battling sides, with Spreadex fancying the Blues to cement their post-Hiddink improvement at a Chelsea/Manchester City Goal Supremacy spread of 0.6-0.8 with a Total Goals spread of 2.6-2.8.

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