Uninspiring Chelsea travel to face inform Aston Villa
Teetering on the edge of yet another on-field crisis, Chelsea bid to right some Premier League wrongs in the FA Cup, where Aston Villa lie in wait for Wednesday’s fourth-round replay.
The teams reconvene at Villa Park after shaking hands on a goalless draw in West London, and a home meeting with either Leeds United or Plymouth Argyle is in store for the midweek victor.
Chelsea had rebuilt the walls of their besieged Stamford Bridge fortress before Aston Villa arrived for their knockout showdown on January 26, but while the Blues enjoyed plentiful possession at their West London home, neither side did enough to punch a direct ticket to round five. The drab draw in the capital marked the second of three winless matches for Unai Emery‘s Aston Villa crop, who had ever-so slightly slipped out of the Premier League title conversation before the weekend’s contest with Sheffield United, having only amassed one point from meetings with Everton and Newcastle United.
A torrid time on the road has also seen Chelsea suffer defeat in six of their last seven matches away from their Stamford Bridge base, but while the form book does not favour the Blues, the historical records do; Wednesday’s visitors have prevailed in eight of their last nine FA Cup replays.
Remarkably, all of Aston Villa’s last five home games in the FA Cup have ended in defeat, but faced with a permeable Chelsea side who are often easy pickings on the road, that curse should be lifted here.
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Nottingham Forest host Bristol City at the City Ground
Aiming to make lightning strike twice in FA Cup replays, Nottingham Forest host Bristol City in Wednesday’s fourth-round rematch at the City Ground.
Nuno Espirito Santo‘s men played out a goalless draw with their Championship counterparts at Ashton Gate on January 26, but both sides have previous when it comes to prevailing at the second bite of the cherry. On their latest quest to be crowned FA Cup winners for the very first time, Bristol City eliminated Forest’s Premier League counterparts West Ham United thanks to a 1-0 replay success at Ashton Gate, a result which saw Liam Manning have the last laugh against his former club.
However, that memorable beating of the Europa Conference League champions represents Bristol City’s only win from their last nine matches in all tournaments, as they subsequently shared the spoils with Forest, Watford and Coventry City before playing host to Leeds United in Friday’s Championship offering.
Forest may not be as prolific in the final third as they were during the earliest days of Santo’s reign, however, faced with a Bristol City side who flatter to deceive on the road and were fortunate to only lose by one against Leeds, Forest could conjure up an identical success over the Robins en route to a glamour fifth-round meeting with Manchester United.
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Atletico Madrid welcome Athletic Bilbao to the Metropolitano
On Wednesday, Atletico Madrid will welcome Athletic Bilbao to the Civitas Metropolitano for the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals. Atleti are unbeaten in six competitive games, while the visitors have avoided defeat in each of their previous three matches.
Atletico will head into Wednesday’s cup clash off the back of Sunday’s 1-1 draw against their local rivals Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. They will now turn their attention to Wednesday’s Copa del Rey fixture as they begin to dream about winning the competition for the 11th time in their history and the first time since lifting the trophy in the 2012-13 season.
Atleti will be confident about making home advantage count in Wednesday’s first leg, having avoided defeat in each of their last 28 competitive matches at the Metropolitano since losing 1-0 to Barcelona in a league fixture in January 2023.
In contrast to their hosts, Athletic have had to beat five teams to book their place in the semi-final, including Rubi, Cayon, Eibar and Alaves.
Ernesto Valverde‘s side went on to beat record winners Barcelona in last month’s quarter-finals, as they fought back from 2-1 down to claim a 4-2 victory after extra time.
Atletico have gone over a year without losing a competitive game at the Metropolitano, and having won 11 of their last 13 home matches against Athletic, we think that the hosts will do enough to claim a narrow victory in the first leg of the semi-final tie.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
PSG, Brest battle for a spot in Coupe de France last eight
The headline fixture in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France will come from Parc des Princes, where Paris Saint-Germain will take on Brest on Wednesday evening.
This match will see two of Ligue 1’s best teams this season duke it out for a spot in the last eight, with PSG currently leading the league standings while Brest are in third place.
Paris Saint-Germain were knocked out of this competition in this same round last term and will be looking to win back the Coupe de France after holding on to the trophy in the previous two seasons. So far, they have been formidable in the competition, kicking off the campaign with a massive 9-0 win over Revel at the start of January and following that up with a 4-1 victory over Orleans a couple of weeks ago.
The Parisians have an incredible home record in this competition and have not lost at Parc des Princes since January 2014, posting a total of 15 wins and just a single draw in that time.
In addition, Luis Enrique‘s side have an even more impressive record against this opponent, unbeaten in their last 27 competitive matches (W19 D8 L0) spanning a period of almost four decades.
However, the 14-time champions of this tournament will know that they will need to be at their best to progress to the next round, especially after Brest came from two goals down to take a point off them in a nail-biting league encounter less than two weeks ago.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
FIXTURES
FA CUP FOURTH ROUND–REPLAY
Nottingham Forest19:45Bristol City
Aston Villa20:00Chelsea
SPANISH COPA DEL REY
Atlético Madrid20:30Athletic Bilbao
FRENCH COUPE DE FRANCE
Lyon17:30Lille
Le Puy Foot 4319:30Laval
Montpellier19:30Nice
Saint-Priest19:30Valenciennes
Strasbourg19:30Le Havre
Paris Saint Germain20:10Brest
