Last night draws for the fifth round of the Emirates FA Cup were made. It was a case of pitching the “small” teams against the big ones. It is perfect recipe for a cup-set but it deprived the fans of a heavyweight clash at least until the quarter finals. We could have an all Premier League quarter final and the opposite as well.

Arsenal will travel to non-League Sutton United for place in the last 8. It is reported that half of the Sutton team support Arsenal and have 3 Ex-Gunners including Craig Eastmond. Easy tie for the Gunners but it would come after a trip to Munich to face Bayern and Sutton knocked out Leeds in the penultimate round.

The fifth-round draw in full

  • Burnley v Lincoln City
  • Fulham v Tottenham
  • Blackburn v Manchester United
  • Sutton United v Arsenal
  • Middlesbrough v Oxford
  • Wolves v Chelsea
  • Huddersfield v Manchester City
  • Millwall v Derby/Leicester

The fifth round represents the last-16 stage of the competition and all ties are scheduled to be played from 17-20 February.

The Premier League returns today with Arsenal hosting Watford and a big clash at Anfield between Liverpool and Chelsea. I hope Liverpool get themselves over the three consecutive losses at home.

Cheers

@AmosCP