The FA Cup 5th Round takes place from Monday 26th to Wednesday 28th February and consists of eight ties which will all be determined on the night. Two examples right there of how the FA have allowed external influences to detrimentally affect what is disingenuously called by their CEO their ‘crown jewel’.
The 16 clubs involved in the 5th Round include a dozen former FA Cup winners, including holders Manchester City, two clubs that have been beaten Finalists in the past, one club for whom victory would equal their best FA Cup run, and a Level 6 non-league club looking to become the lowest ranked FA Cup Quarter Finalist in the competition’s long history.
All eight ties can be watched ‘live’ on TV or on the internet via the BBC and ITV.
Monday 26th February
7.45pm Coventry City (EFL Championship) vs. Maidstone United (National League South) – ‘Live’ on ITV 4
Maidstone United have already won through seven FA Cup ties this season and have already won away from home at Championship opponents, and another such victory would mean the Stones would make FA Cup history by becoming the lowest ranked club ever to reach the last eight of the competition. It would also mean Maidstone United would become members of another exclusive club, one whose members have participated in nine FA Cup rounds in the same Cup run.
It’s 15 years since Coventry City last progressed to the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup and the Sky Blues will be wary of yet another slip up against non-league opposition having famously been defeated by Sutton United in 1989 just 20 months after lifting the Trophy. More vivid maybe in Sky Blues fans’ collective minds will be the defeat by Wrexham in the Cup just last season.
Tuesday 27th February
7.30pm AFC Bournemouth (Premier League) vs. Leicester City (EFL Championship) – ‘Live’ on BBC iPlayer
Despite 228 campaigns between them this will be the first FA Cup meeting between the Cherries and the Foxes. A victory for AFC Bournemouth would result in the club equalling their best ever FA Cup run achieved just twice before in 1957 and in 2021. Leicester City, of course, lifted the Trophy in 2021 and a victory for the Championship leaders would take the club into the last eight for the fourth time in the last seven seasons.
7.45pm Blackburn Rovers (EFL Championship) vs. Newcastle United (Premier League) – ‘Live’ on BBC One
What will inevitably be called the ‘Shearer’ Derby is also the most common tie of this season’s 5th Round with this being the tenth time the two clubs have been drawn to face each other in the FA Cup. Newcastle United have a seven to two win ratio in past Cup meetings including winning their first tie 3-1 in 1910 and their last meeting 4-2 in a 3rd Round replay five years ago.
Whilst both these two clubs have lifted the FA Cup Trophy six times each it’s almost 70 years since either club actually won the Cup. Blackburn Rovers are looking to make successive Quarter Final appearances for the first time since 1929 whilst Newcastle United last made the final eight of the FA Cup four years ago.
8.0pm Luton Town (Premier League) vs. Manchester City (Premier League) – ’Live’ on ITV 1
It’s the seventh time these two clubs have been drawn together in the FA Cup, but the first since Manchester City went on to lift the Trophy in 1969. That 1-0 victory was one of four wins for City in their six previous FA Cup encounters with Luton having also won their first meeting in the competition 2-1 in the 4th Round in 1936.
This is the ninth successive season that Cup holders Manchester City have reached the 5th Round of the competition and they’ve progressed further in each of the last five seasons. It’s 30 years since the Hatters last managed to go beyond the 5th Round although this is only the third time since then they’ve had the chance to do so.
Wednesday 28th February
7.30pm Chelsea FC (Premier League) vs. Leeds United (EFL Championship) – ‘live’ on ITV 4
Remarkably this will be the first FA Cup encounter between these two clubs since meeting at Old Trafford in an FA Cup Final replay in 1970. Chelsea won that match as they have done all five previous times the two sides have been drawn together in the FA Cup, since their first meeting in the 3rd Round in 1937.
A few amazing facts regarding that 1970 FA Cup Final and replay between Chelsea and Leeds United. It was the first time a Wembley Final had needed a replay. Leeds United became the first club to lead an FA Cup Final three times and still not lift the Trophy. And it’s the last time a Final was contested by two clubs that had as yet never lifted the Trophy.
It’s 21 years since Leeds United last went further than the 5th Round of the FA Cup whilst in that time Chelsea have lifted the Trophy five times and been runners-up on a further four occasions.
7.45pm Nottingham Forest (Premier League) vs. Manchester United (Premier League) – ‘live’ on BBC One
Nottingham Forest have knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup in four of the five previous season’s the two clubs were drawn together in the competition, first winning 3-0 in a 1935 4th Round replay. The Red Devils’ only victory over Forest in the FA Cup came the last time the two clubs met in the 3rd Round in 1990.
Forest last went beyond the 5th Round just two years ago although that was the first time for 26 years. Last year’s beaten Finalists, Manchester United, have only once failed to go further than the 5th Round over the last nine seasons.
7.45pm Wolverhampton Wanderers (Premier League) vs. Brighton and Hove Albion (Premier League) – ‘live’ on BBC iPlayer
With a combined count of 43 letters in their two names this is the joint longest named tie in the ‘Proper’ Rounds of the FA Cup involving League clubs and their current names. This particular combination has happened just once before in the competition in the 3rd Round in 1979, a game won 3-2 by Wolves.
Both clubs have fallen at the Semi-Final stage of the competition in recent seasons. Both were beaten Semi-Finalists in 2019 and Brighton came as close to a place in the Final just last season, too.
8.0pm Liverpool FC (Premier League) vs. Southampton FC (EFL Championship)
This is the ninth time the two clubs have been drawn together in the FA Cup with Liverpool having a six to two win ratio in past Cup meetings. The clubs first met in the Cup in 1901-02 when Southampton won 4-1 in the 2nd Round whilst the Saints were a non-league club and Liverpool were in the top flight. Their last FA Cup encounter came in the 5th Round in 1990 won 3-0 by Liverpool.
Southampton have managed to go beyond the 5th Round three times in the last seven seasons whilst Liverpool has done so just once in that time, although they did go on to lift the Trophy just two years ago.
FA Cup Factfile 