FA Cup: Foxes dare Chelsea

Leicester City vs. Chelsea
Venue: King Power Stadium
Kick off: 4PM

Two of the Premier League’s top four meet in the FA Cup today when third-placed Leicester City welcome fourth-placed Chelsea to the King Power Stadium.

Just one point separates the two sides in the top flight heading into this quarter-final showdown, but their FA Cup pedigree could hardly be more different with Chelsea boasting eight titles and Leicester none.

Given the rivalry that has developed between Chelsea and Liverpool over the past 20 years or so, there may have been some fans bemoaning the fact that it was the Blues’ win over Manchester City which handed the Reds their long-awaited title on Thursday night.

Far more important to Frank Lampard and his Chelsea players would have been another three points, though, the importance of which understandably flew under the radar given the more significant implications of the result elsewhere.

Having seen both Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers win earlier in the week, Chelsea responded in kind in one of their toughest remaining fixtures to restore their five-point lead over the chasing pack in the battle for the top four.

While the Londoners will of course have one eye looking at those behind them, the other will be firmly fixed up the table and Leicester, who are now just a point above them, will come into sharp focus this afternoon.

Chelsea must put their Champions League charge on the back-burner for now as they continue their quest to lift the trophy for a ninth time, and the second time in the last three seasons.

It is the last trophy realistically available to Lampard this season and, if he was to crown his debut campaign as Chelsea boss with FA Cup glory and a top-four finish – having not signed a single player last summer or in January – it would have to go down as one of the most impressive managerial feats of 2019-20.

Lampard lifted this trophy four times as a player with Chelsea and booked the club’s place in the quarter-finals for a fourth time in the past five seasons by inflicting a rare defeat on Liverpool in the last round.

That March victory was the beginning of a four-match winning streak across all competitions, which is their best run since October and a sign that they are finally starting to find the sort of consistency which the top-four race has been crying out for all season.

One thing Chelsea have been consistent with so far is goals in FA Cup games – they have netted twice in each round so far, overcoming Nottingham Forest, Hull City and then Liverpool to reach the quarter-finals.

These two sides also met at the King Power Stadium in the quarter-finals of the 2017-18 FA Cup, with Chelsea winning on that occasion, but that remains Leicester’s last home defeat in this competition with two wins from two without conceding a goal since.

Indeed, Leicester’s 1-0 triumph over Birmingham City in the last round means that they have now won three successive FA Cup games without conceding for the first time since March 1969, also keeping clean sheets against Wigan Athletic and Brentford.

The good omen about that for Leicester is that 1969 was the last time they reached the FA Cup final, although this match is set to be their toughest of this season’s tournament so far and they go into it in poor form.

The Foxes are winless since the restart, drawing against relegation-threatened duo Watford and Brighton & Hove Albion to extend their recent league record to just one win in seven.

After winning 12 and losing just one of their first 15 league games this season Leicester have since won just four and lost six of their next 16, allowing Chelsea to close the gap to only one point.

The main problem now appears to be goalscoring; Leicester boast the division’s top scorer in Jamie Vardy but have failed to find the back of the net in four of their last six top-flight outings – as many as they had in their previous 26.

Brendan Rodgers will hope that the FA Cup provides a welcome distraction from that as they look to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 1982.

Leicester possible XI: Schmeichel, Justin, Evans, Morgan, Fuchs, Perez, Choudhury, Tielemans, Praet, Barnes, Iheanacho.
Chelsea possible XI: Caballero, James, Christensen, Zouma, Emerson, Gilmour, Jorginho, Kovacic, Loftus-Cheek, Abraham, Pedro.