Chelsea take on Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Monday in the pick of the FA Cup fifth-round ties, aiming to emulate their victory from last season’s final.
The Blues beat United 1-0 at Wembley Stadium in May’s showpiece to lift the famous trophy for an eighth time, but both sides are now under new management and it is the Red Devils who are in the better overall form.
The Blues have lost their last three Premier League away games by a combined 12 goals, following up a 2-0 loss at Arsenal and a 4-0 reverse at Bournemouth with a crushing 6-0 defeat against Man City – their heaviest defeat since going down 7-0 at Nottingham Forest in April 1991.
The immediate priority is progression in the FA Cup, of course, and Chelsea are looking to reach the quarter-finals for the fourth consecutive season, reaching the final in each of the last two.
Unlike opponents Chelsea, consistency has not been a problem for United in the two months since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho at the Old Trafford helm.
Solskjaer did suffer his first real setback on Tuesday evening, though, as his side crashed to a 2-0 home loss at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain, surely all but ending their hopes of progression in the Champions League.