1) Sarr’s Chelsea cup specialism under threat
Chelsea have fielded strong teams throughout their run – few clubs take upholding the sporting integrity of this competition so seriously – with Lewis Hall, who excelled on his first-team debut against Chesterfield in the third round, the one genuinely unfamiliar name to be fielded so far. But the only player who has been present for every minute of their three Cup ties is Malang Sarr – indeed the 23-year-old has played every minute of every one of Chelsea’s domestic cup ties this season except the most important, the Carabao Cup final, which he watched from the bench. In that time he has played at centre-back in a four, as centre-back in a three, and at left-back, but his defending was criticised for both Luton goals in the fifth round and, having been unconvincing when given a rare Premier League outing against Newcastle last weekend, his position as Chelsea’s not-that-important-domestic-cup-tie specialist might be under threat. SB
2) Boro motivated to complete hat-trick of shocks
When Chris Wilder was sacked by Sheffield United a year ago towards the end of the Blades’ miserable second season in the Premier League, there was shock in some quarters and an acceptance results had got too bad in others. Like Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds last month, Wilder left Yorkshire a hero for what he had done before, and with few people questioning his coaching talent. It has been uplifting and reassuring then to see the transformation he has overseen at Middlesbrough, guiding them into play-off contention in the Championship and to an FA Cup quarter-final against Chelsea. Manchester United (on penalties) and Tottenham (after extra time) have been dumped out along the way, with Boro seemingly getting stronger as those games wore on. With Chelsea in turmoil off the pitch, and Wilder’s players – and the Riverside faithful – no doubt intent on punishing the Blues for their embarrassing attempt to keep the home fans out, the visitors could be in for a tricky evening. RB
3) Stats stack up nicely for Forest’s attack
Surprisingly, in their home games against Shrewsbury, Cardiff and Norwich in this season’s Cup, Liverpool have had only two more shots on target than Nottingham Forest have in their considerably harder assignments against Arsenal, Leicester and Huddersfield, and conceded only one shot on target fewer. A curiosity of Forest’s Cup run is that while in the league they score with approximately one shot in every eight (53 goals from 428 shots), in this year’s Cup they have scored with one shot in every 3.7, a statistically unlikely success rate unmatched by any other side left in the competition. Liverpool have converted 55 shots into nine goals, very similar to their Premier League conversion ratio, and Forest 26 shots into seven goals. SB
4) Saints must take heart from City dates
Southampton will draw considerable strength from previous results this season against the Premier League leaders. They shared the points home and away with Pep Guardiola’s side, a head-to-head record bettered only by Crystal Palace, who won at the Etihad and held them to a goalless draw at Selhurst Park on Monday. No reason to feel intimidated then, especially with Manchester City’s usually smooth engine spluttering ever so slightly. On the downside for Southampton, arguably the best prolonged spell of form since Ralph Hassenhüttl arrived has been abruptly ended by three straight defeats in the league. Booking a place in the FA Cup semi-finals would be just the tonic. LM
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