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1) Adebayor can light up battle of the dark horses
Crystal Palace against Stoke City could be the tie of the round: two dark horses with a genuine chance of going all the way to Wembley and numerous captivating storylines. The return of Emmanuel Adebayor will be watched with interest. How fit is he? Can he solve Crystal Palace’s goalscoring problems? Can Alan Pardew get the best out of a player who cannot be tamed? How Stoke respond to that penalty shootout defeat at Anfield in midweek will be fascinating too. Both teams have shown they are capable of beating the best this season, yet a challenge in the Premier League remains beyond their reach. It should make Cup competitions all the more important and seeing a mid-ranking Premier League side climbing the Wembley steps in May would be healthy for a competition losing a little bit more lustre every season. Alan Smith
2) Elneny has chance to make first-XI case
After watching from the bench as an unused substitute during Arsenal’s draw at Stoke and their defeat to Chelsea, Mohamed Elneny is set for his debut at home to Burnley on Saturday. With Frances Coquelin injured and Mathieu Flamini struggling to fill the hole in his absence, Arsène Wenger has been crying out for some dynamism at the base of his midfield. Arsenal’s players seem to be impressed with Elneny, Olivier Giroud referring to him as “a complete player”. Quite the statement after a few training sessions, but Elneny will not be afforded much time to settle in with Coquelin expected to make Arsenal’s bench on Saturday – the onus is on the Egyptian to make a good first impression against an inferior (albeit in-form) Burnley side. Elneny’s first task in English football? Get to grips with Joey Barton. MB
- 3) Kane and Alli need a proper rest with title charge in mind
He will continue to play it down, of course, but Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham are title contenders. Still fighting on three fronts, this is a prime opportunity to give his key players a day off. Colchester are rooted to the bottom of League One and have not won in the league since October. Their Cup run has seen them defeat two teams in lower divisions and Charlton, a team in similar disarray. It should be a straightforward afternoon for Spurs, then. Pochettino has relied upon the same core of players all season and there must be some tired legs there. While Harry Kane and Dele Alli were substitutes against Leicester, they were called upon when the going got tough. It would be good to see Josh Onomah given another chance, Nacer Chadli could do with more minutes and Son Heung-min will look to reaffirm the theory that he can be a more than capable back-up for Kane, who might even have the luxury of a full day off. AS
4) Dropping Fellaini could help Manchester United turn a corner
This season, Manchester United have won 70% (and lost none) of the league games that Marouane Fellaini has missed. They have won only 23.1% of those (and lost 46.2%) that he has, a stat that has seemingly bypassed the club’s analytics department, with the Belgian starting the last nine of United’s 11 matches in all competitions (in which United have won three, lost five). Louis van Gaal suggested on Thursday that his job hinges on his team’s result at Derby County on Friday night and it will be baffling if the Dutchman retains the 28-year-old in his starting XI for such a crucial game, in which the United performance will be scrutinised as much as the result. Perhaps even more bewildering is Paul Clement, Derby’s manager, who told the Guardian this week that Fellaini remains one of Manchester United’s most potent weapons. “United still have match-winning players – Rooney can produce moments of magic. I like Mata – I think he’s a great player. I knew about Herrera from my time in Spain. The young ones [Martial and Depay] are doing it some days but not others. Fellaini’s a bit inconsistent but dangerous.”
5) Portsmouth’s long-suffering fans deserve moment in the sun
The sold-out signs went up at Fratton Park on Monday. It would be easy to rattle off myriad cliches about magic and minnows but even in their darkest hours Pompey’s supporters have stuck around. This will be their third packed house in 11 days and it really is a testament to the supporters that they have stuck with it in such big numbers. After their sharp fall from European football and silverware to midweek trips to Morecambe, it still must feel odd for them to look at Bournemouth as a Premier League club. In 2013 they were playing each other in League One, but now three divisions separate them. They will relish the chance of causing an upset and deserve another moment in the sun.
6) Iheanacho’s striking cup form means City’s key men can sit back
After he provided an immediate impact on Wednesday (and indeed all season),Kevin De Bruyne’s subsequent injury will weigh heavy on the Manchester City squad, and Manuel Pellegrini will be especially wary of further casualties this weekend, especially with so many crucial games in the coming weeks: February includes crunch matches against Leicester and Tottenham in the Premier League, a trip to Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League last-16 and a Capital One Cup final against Liverpool. With that in mind, a trip to Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Saturday increasingly looks like an opportunity to rest City’s two most important players, Sergio Agüero and David Silva, who have struggled with injuries this season. Both will be tired from their key contributions against Everton in theCapital One Cup semi-final, and Pellegrini must also think about City’s trip to Sunderland on Tuesday. If Agüero does get the day off, Kelechi Iheanacho deserves another chance – the Nigerian has scored in all three cup appearances this season, including in City’s FA Cup third-round victory over Norwich.
7) Berahino should be given the chance to silence his doubters
Tony Pulis has promised to take the Cup seriously, naming strong teams in bothgames against Bristol City, but might a glance at the fixture list sway his mindset for the visit of League One Peterborough? West Brom are on a dire run and could still be dragged into a relegation battle. Swansea and Newcastle are up next and good results in both should ease any lingering fears. So why not shuffle the pack against the Posh and strip away the stubbornness by playing Saido Berahino? The striker was desperately off the pace against Aston Villa last weekend when introduced from the bench – Albion could not manage a shot on target against the league’s worst team – and needs games. Only Pulis and the player know the full story but it is blatantly obvious to all that Berahino has bags of talent. It is being wasted on the bench and it is not like those playing instead of him are setting the world on fire. With the club indicating he is likely to stay until the summer, this represents a perfect chance for him to be reintegrated into the team and silence doubters.
Will Saido Berahino finally come in from the cold?
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8) Appleton can show Blackburn the fruits of his labour at Oxford
The last time Michael Appleton was in the fourth round of the FA Cup he earned his first victory as Blackburn Rovers manager – a 3-0 win away at Derby County. In the fifth round of that 2012-13 season, Appleton masterminded a 1-0 win away at Arsenal. Yet these were rare highlights in Appleton’s 67 days as manager of Rovers, who travel to the 40-year-old’s current club and the lowest team left in the FA Cup, Oxford United, on Saturday. Appleton’s short stint at the Lancashire club ended badly, but his tenure at United has been quietly building into something worth shouting about. With Derek Fazackerley (Rovers’ all-time record appearance holder) by his side the club are in the League Two automatic promotion places and dumped out Swansea City in the third round. Travelling Blackburn fans, who have sold out their allocation at the Kassam Stadium, may give their former manager some stick from the stands but they could well witness another Appleton FA Cup upset
9) Leeds must beware a Bolton side emerging from shambles
When Bolton edged past Eastleigh in their third-round replay, there may have been some within the Leeds United camp who breathed a sigh of relief. With the memory of losing toHiston in 2008-09 lingering in fans’ minds, a short journey across the Pennines to play a club bottom of the Championship seems almost preferable to a round-trip to Hampshire to play a non-league team full of confidence on a bobbly pitch. Leeds’ fans will number 6,850 at the Macron Stadium on Saturday – the biggest away allocation at Bolton’s home ground, and Leeds’ biggest away attendance since 2013. And they will be expecting to win. Yet Bolton are showing signs of life, despite the shambles off the pitch. Last weekend’s 3-1 win over MK Dons proved to many, not least their own supporters, that this is a club capable of staying up. Their captain, Darren Pratley, looked every inch the player that helped fire Swansea City into the Premier League, the Arsenal loanee Wellington Silva’s bag of tricks – including a double Roulette turn – was backed up by an end product and Rob Holding was faultless at the back. With Zach Clough, the club’s home-grown star, returning from injury this week, Bolton have every chance of giving Leeds’ travelling support an unwelcome surprise to reach the fifth round.
10) West Ham will adopt counterattacking approach at Anfield
With the injury to Carl Jenkinson and with Sam Byram cup-tied for West Ham’sFA Cup to Liverpool, James Tomkins is set to assume the right-back role once again, with the game probably coming too early for Joey O’Brien, who is still lacking match fitness since his ankle injury. The 6ft3in Tomkins is a centre-back by trade but was played at full-back in the wins over Liverpool and Bournemouth and in the defeat at Newcastle and while he is defensively sound, does not provide the same threat going forward as Jenkinson or Byram – width and creating opportunities from crossing is key to how West Ham play, especially away from home. Expect West Ham to be more compact at Anfield, and instead use the counterattack through the pace of Michail Antonio, Enner Valencia and Dimitri Payet.
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