FA Cup fourth round: Five things to look out for

How will Chelsea respond?

Happy to have finally gotten rid of his man?

The now-imminent sale of the club’s two-time reigning Player of the Year Juan Mata to Man United is surely a bitter pill to swallow for all the Blues out there. But the embarrassment of attacking riches at Mourinho’s disposal means that he won’t have to dwell on that loss too much. Still, it will be interesting to see how the squad responds to the loss of the mercurial Spaniard, when they come up against a side to whom they have already lost this season.

Stoke City aren’t in the greatest of form, but they will take comfort from the fact that they did just beat Chelsea, and a repeat shouldn’t be off the cards. And while it is difficult to imagine Mourinho taking this fixture lightly, he might well be forced to rest some of his big guns, with his side having bigger fish to fry. That might just make for an interesting encounter at the Bridge.

How many Premier League clubs will make it into the fourth round?

Will Meulensteen raise the white flag at Bramall Lane?

We are just in the fourth round of the FA Cup and already seven Premier League teams, including record winners of the FA Cup Manchester United, are out of this year’s competition. Admittedly though, a major contributor to that was the fact that there were five all-Premier League ties, which meant that five weren’t going to make it through no matter what. Aston Villa and West Ham went out in spectacular fashion after fielding less than strong sides.

However, with just one all-Premier League clash this time around, the rest should make it through to the next round. Will that happen? Or will the clubs, with the relegation battle heating up in the League, follow the lead of Aston Villa and West Ham and raise the white flag?