Chelsea's fight on four trophy fronts continues on Saturday with a second trip to the north-west this week. Club historian Rick Glanvill and statistician Paul Dutton preview an all-top flight FA Cup date.

Rick begins by remembering what for those present was a night to forget.

There are now three certainties in life: death, taxes and Chelsea cup finals. How that renowned Chalk Farm café owner Mr Rogers must be frothing away in his grave.

Each January from the late 1930s he hung a sign outside his restaurant as follows: 'I will give a free dinner to all my customers when Chelsea win the cup'. Naturally, he was banking on his generosity never being tested. Up until 1970 it wasn't, but now, after the midweek win against Everton the Blues have reached an eighth cup final in ten years. So far, all bar one have ended with the Blues lifting the trophy.

In fact, as we face another stern test of our depleted personnel it's amazing to think that Chelsea have not been beaten in a domestic knockout competition since April 2006, a run of 19 matches.

But now welcome back to the endless and continuing surprise of the FA Cup. The name of Saturday's opponents should be all that is required to remind Chelsea fans (of a certain vintage) of the mysterious levelling ability of the world's oldest club tournament.

For those who are blissfully unaware, here's why. On a freezing Saturday in January 1980, third-placed Chelsea slaughtered Second Division leaders Newcastle United at the Bridge 4-0. The goals came from the usual sources back then: Micky Fillery, Tommy Langley, Clive Walker and a Toon central defender, David Barton.

Typically for the Chelsea of the day, the euphoria of hitting the heights melted away far quicker than the frost. Just two days later, Monday evening, the pitch was frozen like an ice rink for the arrival of Wigan Athletic in the third round of the FA Cup.

The Latics were then on the Football League's fourth tier, now League Two. But they adapted far better to the conditions than the Blues, whose passing game suffered with the vagaries of the bounce and the unsafe footing.

When Tommy Gore capitalised on a defensive slip to lob over Petar Borota, Chelsea suddenly created plenty of chances. Walker was denied point-blank by veteran Wigan keeper John Brown, and the woodwork saw off an effort from Fillers amongst other memories, but Wigan's luck held and Chelsea's finishing waned.

'Defeat,' wrote Geoffrey Green of Chelsea, 'seemed to settle on them like green mould.'

It was a 0-1 humiliation, but Chelsea learned a lesson, hiring Athletic's then manager Ian McNeill as assistant to John Neal when Geoff Hurst cleared his Stamford Bridge desk a year later.

Coincidentally, Wigan lost to Everton in the next round of the cup in 1980, just as Chelsea now arrive at the JJB with the glow of an outstanding victory at Goodison Park still warm.

It wasn't that long ago - early November - that Chelsea visited the JJB and eased to a 2-0 victory provided by an early Frank Lampard strike and Juliano Belletti's swerving 25-yard toe-poke. Nearly 6,000 Blues fans made the trip. Unfortunately it was our former defender Chris Hutchings' last game in charge.

It won't be as easy a game this time. Wigan have gradually revived since Steve Bruce applied the defibrillator. From the turn of the year in the league they have drawn at Anfield and earned their first away win of the season at Derby, but were pegged back at home to Everton last weekend.

In the last round of this competition they slaughtered Sunderland 3-0 in the north-east, prompting Mackems manager Roy Keane to reflect whether he was doing his job properly.

Unlike other struggling teams, neither side made significant changes to their line-ups for a game where precious points weren't on offer. Wigan were more disciplined and urgent, so perhaps Bruce, the former Manchester United stopper, aims to build league momentum on the back of a cup run.

There aren't too many differences to the personnel Chelsea faced two months back: Emile Heskey, who has enjoyed himself several times at Chelsea's expense, is likely to partner Marcus Bent upfront in a 4-4-2, whereas before they fielded Jason Koumas and 4-5-1.

Versatile Paul Scharner has replaced Andreas Grandvist in the centre of defence alongside Titus Bramble - who again gifted Andy Johnson a goal last week, and Denny Landzaat plays in the centre next to Michael Brown, who was extraordinarily lucky to stay on the pitch after several nasty tackles in our November meeting.

Wigan's keeper, Chris Kirkland, has a poor personal record against Chelsea. In seven matches against us over seven years for Coventry, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and Wigan he has never finished on the winning side, earning one draw and one clean sheet while conceding 14 goals - two per match.

Bruce returned to his former club Birmingham to make 22-year-old Honduras international Wilson Palacios his first signing. The feisty midfielder, who was on loan at St Andrews from Deportivo Olimpia, has been involved in a lot of what has been good about the revived Latics' play.

Despite leaving Bruce's squad at St Andrews for Wigan, former Chelsea favourite Mario Melchiot has been retained as skipper.

The Blues' squad has been shorn of many important players since the league meeting. Africa Cup of Nations competitors Mikel, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba all featured, as did the currently injured Frank Lampard.

But the power and togetherness of Chelsea's performance on Wednesday a few miles south will not have increased Bruce's hope for FA Cup progress too much.

One of the Chelsea stars at Goodison, Shaun Wright-Phillips, tormented Latics' left-back Kevin Kilbane with his pace and trickery, but he looks even better in the more central position he currently occupies. And Nicolas Anelka, who must wince every time he hears anyone say 'touch wood' at the moment, is only inches from opening his Chelsea account. He scored against Wigan in Bolton's 4-1 drubbing back in December.

Our match is one of three all-Premier League encounters, and there will be a maximum of eight top-flight clubs in the hat for Monday's fifth round draw, so the Wembley arch will loom large for the winner of this tie. It would be nice to extend the euphoria a few more days.

No green mould please, lads.


WIGAN ATHLETIC V CHELSEA - Paul Dutton with another batch of cup tie numbers that count.

Joe Cole and Claude Makelele, if selected, will make their 200th appearance for the club. Claude will become only the eighth overseas player to reach that milestone, joining Gianfranco Zola 312, Eidur Gudjohnsen 263, William Gallas 225, Marcel Desailly 222, Dan Petrescu 208, Frank Leb?uf 204 and Carlo Cudicini 201.

The Latics have only progressed beyond the FA Cup fourth round once in their history. Third Division Wigan lost 2-0 at home to Second Division Leeds in the sixth round in 1987. They had beaten Lincoln, Darlington, Gillingham, First Division Norwich and Hull on their way to the quarter-final.

The last occasion Chelsea were eliminated at or before the fourth round stage was in 1998 when Manchester United, including David Beckham, came to Stamford Bridge and beat us 5-3 in the third round.

Chelsea are unbeaten in 10 (nine wins and a draw) since our defeat at the Emirates before Christmas and are looking for an eighth successive victory in all competitions.

Chelsea have a 100 per cent league record against the Latics although we have won one and lost two of our four cup meetings.

Previous cup meetings
Jan 14, 1980 FA Cup 3rd round
Chelsea 0 Wigan 1 (Gore)
Wigan were only in their second league season following election to the Fourth Division in 1978.
Nov 11, 1981 League Cup 3rd round
Wigan 4 (Wignall 2, Evans, Bradd) Chelsea 2 (Bumstead, Fillery)
Jan 5, 1985 FA Cup 3rd round
Chelsea 2 (Speedie, Nevin) Wigan 2 (Jewell, Newell)
Jan 26, 1985 FA Cup 3rd round replay
Wigan 0 Chelsea 5 (Dixon 4 (1 pen), Speedie)

Previous league meetings between Chelsea and Wigan
Aug 14 2005 FAPL (a) Chelsea won 1-0
Dec 10 2005 FAPL (h) Chelsea won 1-0
Dec 23 2006 FAPL (a) Chelsea won 3-2
Jan 13 2007 FAPL (h) Chelsea won 4-0
Nov 3 2007 FAPL (a) Chelsea won 2-0

Steve Bruce was appointed manager at the end of November following eight successive defeats and immediately stopped the rot with a 1-1 draw with Man City. He has won four and drawn three of his 10 games in charge.

Chelsea have been beaten twice in 28 games in all competitions under Avram Grant in a run that has seen 21 wins and 19 clean sheets. In the last 11 away games we have kept nine clean sheets and conceded only two goals.

We are unbeaten in the last 48 games in all competitions when scoring the opening goal - 45 wins, three draws. The last occasion was at Tottenham in November 2006.

Wigan have played 25 games in all competitions winning six, losing 14 and drawing five. They have scored 26 goals, conceded 40, have kept five clean sheets and failed to score on eight occasions.

Wigan's last six games
Dec 26 Newcastle (h) W 1-0
Dec 29 Aston Villa (h) L 1-2
Jan 2 Liverpool (a) D 1-1
Jan 5 Sunderland (FA Cup a) W 3-0
Jan 12 Derby (a) W 1-0
Jan 20 Everton (h) L 1-2

Wigan lost to Everton at the JJB last Sunday to two late first half goals, although Phil Jagielka deflected Jason Koumas's whipped-in free kick into his own net on 53 minutes to reduce the deficit. Team (4-4-2): Kirkland; Melchiot (c), Scharner, Bramble, Kilbane; Valencia, Landzaat (Koumas 52), Brown (Aghahowa 82), Palacios; Heskey (Sibierski 52), Bent.

The Latics scorers this season in all competitions: Bent 7, Scharner 4, Sibierski 4 (1 pen), Landzaat 3 (1 pen), Bramble 2, Cotterill 1, Heskey 1, Koumas 1 (pen), Taylor 1, own goals 2 (McShane, Sunderland, Jagielka, Everton). Total 26.

Chelsea's 60 goals have come from Drogba 9, Lampard 9 (2 pens), Kalou 7, Shevchenko 7 (1 pen), J Cole 6, Alex 3, Essien 3, Malouda 3, Wright-Phillips 3, Ballack 2 (1 pen), Belletti 2, Pizarro 2, Sidwell 1, Sinclair 1, own goals 2 (Camp, QPR, Lescott, Everton).

Wigan and Chelsea's last five seasons in the FA Cup
Wigan Athletic
2002/03 Third round - lost 0-3 away at Stoke
2003/04 Third round - lost 1-2 at home to West Ham
2004/05 Third round - lost 1-2 away at Derby
2005/06 Fourth round - lost 0-1 away at Man City
2006/07 Third round - lost 1-2 away at Portsmouth
Chelsea
2002/03 Quarter-final replay - lost 1-3 at home to Arsenal
2003/04 Fifth round - lost 1-2 away to Arsenal
2004/05 Fifth round - lost 0-1 away to Newcastle
2005/06 Semi-final - lost 1-2 to Liverpool at Old Trafford
2006/07 Winners - beat Man Utd 1-0 at Wembley

Chelsea have won the FA Cup in 1970, 1997, 2000 and 2007 and have been finalists in 1915, 1967, 1994 and 2002.

Chelsea have played 36 games in all competitions. We have won 24, drawn nine and lost three. We have scored 60 goals, conceded 23 and have kept 21 clean sheets. We have failed to score against Blackburn, Fulham and Valencia at home and away to Arsenal, Aston Villa, Man Utd and Schalke.

Chelsea will be without Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Salomon Kalou and John Mikel Obi who are all away at the Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana. Mikel completes his four-match suspension following his red card against Everton at Stamford Bridge.

Wigan have no representatives in Ghana.

Chelsea have Ricardo Carvalho, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and John Terry one yellow card away from a one match ban for reaching five bookings. They will miss next Saturday's match against Portsmouth at Fratton Park should they receive a caution against Wigan.

There are no suspensions on either side.

If the scores are level after 90 minutes there will be a replay at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday February 13, kick-off to be confirmed.

The draw for the FA Cup fifth round is on Monday at 1.25pm and is live on Sky Sports, BBC TV and BBC Radio 5 Live.

The referee is Uriah Rennie. He has officiated Chelsea matches just twice in the previous two seasons.

Chelsea's overall record against Wigan in all competitions is: played nine, won six, drawn one, lost two.

The 'big four' clubs have monopolised the FA Cup in the last 12 years with Arsenal winners on four occasions, Chelsea and Man Utd three and Liverpool twice. Since Wimbledon's famous victory against Liverpool in 1988 only two clubs outside the so-called 'big four' have won it: Tottenham in 1991 (against Nottingham Forest) and Everton in 1995 (against Manchester Utd).

Two goals in the opening 18 minutes were enough to see off Wigan at the JJB Stadium in November's Premier League match. Our scorers were Frank Lampard and Juliano Belletti. It was our seventh consecutive victory in all competitions.