FA Cup Recap: Who is gone and who remains of the Premier League clubs

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LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 27: Callum Hudson-Odoi of Chelsea during the FA Cup Fourth Round match between Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday at Stamford Bridge on January 27, 2019, in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /

The fifth round of this tournament will only see, at most, two of the top six advances, as Manchester United and Chelsea are slated to face off. While Manchester City waits upon the replays to see if they will play either Middlesbrough or Newport County.

The better of the two matchups would surely be against Newport County, a club that is mid-table playing fourth division English football.

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Whereas, Middlesbrough is fifth in the Championship and not far off from potentially putting themselves in a proper position for promotion. Either way, both clubs will likely be outmatched due to City’s dominance.

Pep Guardiola does not take half-measures in these smaller tournaments either, as he usually plays an ultra-talented squad. Even though advancement looks likely, the game must be played still, as always.

The far more intriguing matchup, however, is between the recently consistent Manchester United against constantly, wavering Chelsea. These teams can both have an intense amount of quality or completely fall flat. Yet that has not been the case much with a new manager at the reigns, in Old Trafford.

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The last matchup resulted in a contentious bout, replete with scoring, late-game dramatics, and minuscule sideline commotion that, as ever, was blown out of proportion. Chelsea’s utter disparity between performances is nowhere more evident than in certain results.

On their record this year they have defeated Manchester City 2-0, while also suffering a profound loss to Bournemouth 4-0. All these elements mixed together should make for a fairly interesting fifth round of FA Cup play.

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