Spurs-City and Chelsea-Villa highlight FA Cup Fourth Round draw

The FA Cup Fourth Round draw on Monday whet the appetite for several key clashes in the English domestic cup competition. Among the 16 fixtures, fans will get to see at least four games involving two sides from the Premier League. Few draw as much attention as Tottenham Hotspur hosting Manchester City or Aston Villa’s trip to Chelsea.

There are still teams looking to join the last 32 of the FA Cup. For example, Everton and Crystal Palace require a replay after their scoreless draw at Goodison Park. Likewise, Wolves will host Brentford after the two could not find a winner in their matchup. In total, eight games require replays, which leaves some unknowns for the FA Cup Fourth Round. Still, the draw sets up fantastic fixtures.

Fulham is hosting Newcastle as two teams look to break their trophy droughts. Fulham has never won the FA Cup. Meanwhile, Newcastle has not won the cup competition since 1955. Another game involving two Premier League teams is Sheffield United hosting Brighton. Brighton’s rise to prominence has not led to a trophy yet. Still, Roberto de Zerbi has Brighton playing some of the best soccer in England. Sheffield United has been struggling in the Premier League. This could be an instance of the FA Cup providing some solace for a team struggling in league play.

Massive clashes in FA Cup Fourth Round

Each game involving two Premier League teams is worthy of intrigue in a cup competition. However, the two aforementioned games stand out.

Aston Villa is traveling to Chelsea on the back of a sensational league campaign. The two sides played a testy game at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season. Ollie Watkins scored the only goal of the match to give Aston Villa three points.

Then, the Manchester City game against Tottenham should be sensational. If any club has had success against Manchester City, it is Tottenham. The two played a wild 3-3 draw earlier in the league campaign. Before that, Tottenham won five of the eight games in all competitions against Manchester City.

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In terms of the teams riding the wave of momentum in the FA Cup, sixth-tier Maidstone United is traveling to Ipswich Town out of the Championship. Wrexham is also on the road, and it is facing Blackburn Rovers in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup.

Coverage is available on ESPN+

For viewers in the United States, each game in the FA Cup is available on ESPN+. There is an off-chance ESPN puts games on one of its TV channels. For example, ESPN put Wrexham’s fourth-round tie against Sheffield United on ESPN2 last season. That was at the peak of Wrexham’s ride of success.

All 16 games in this round are on either Jan. 27 or 28. The winners of this round advance to the fifth round of the FA Cup, which is scheduled for the end of February. Based on the way the draw happened, at least six of the teams in the fifth round will be from outside the Premier League.

The full FA Cup 4th Round draw is as follows:

Watford-Southampton
Blackburn-Wrexham
Bournemouth-Swansea
WBA v Brentford or Wolves
West Ham or Bristol City v Nottingham Forest or Blackpool
Leicester v Hull or Birmingham
Sheffield Wed-Coventry
Chelsea-Aston Villa
Ipswich-Maidstone United
Liverpool v Norwich or Bristol Rovers
Spurs-Man City
Leeds-Plymouth
Crystal Palace or Everton v Luton or Bolton
Newport or Eastleigh v Manchester Utd
Sheffield United-Brighton
Fulham-Newcastle United

PHOTO: IMAGO.