PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: CHELSEA V BRENTFORD
The Blues are aiming to get the better of the Bees at the second time of asking. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton re-examine this west London affair…
TALKING POINTS
The rest of round four may have been a bonfire of the vanities of Aston Villa, Liverpool, Norwich, QPR and Tottenham but Chelsea lived to fight again on Sunday only thanks to Fernando Torres's late strike.
Brentford's task in adding the FA Cup holders to that toll on Sunday at Stamford Bridge is a formidable one. Only once in 14 years of the tournament have the Blues not contested the fifth round.
Last season Championship Birmingham earned a draw at the Bridge that was followed up with a 2-0 success at St Andrew's en route to winning the trophy. In the third round of 2008/09, another FA Cup-winning season, League One Southend forced a replay that the Blues won 4-1 at Roots Hall. Second-tier Watford held Claudio Ranieri's Blues in 2004, only to go down 4-0 in the second game at the Bridge.
The last lower league team to beat Chelsea in a replay in this competition were Millwall in 1995, 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw on the Fulham Road.
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It has been a year for the felling of Premier League timber - just six others made it into the fifth-round draw. One more will definitely progress no further as Manchester United have been pitted against Reading. Luton Town are only the seventh non-league club to have made it this far since World War Two.
All of which should have the surviving top-flight sides very excited. No team below the elite level has lifted the silverware since West Ham in 1980, victors over Arsenal.
It will be a fantastic occasion for Brentford's fans who fill the Shed End on Sunday for our first competitive meeting at Stamford Bridge for over 66 years. Their valiant players earned a mid-season break in Dubai to recharge the batteries after pushing the Blues all the way.
Since then they have lost to Yeovil, drawn with Bury and beaten Stevenage to stand sixth in League One, well within a tilt at the play-offs. Chelsea have drawn at Reading, lost at Newcastle and beaten Wigan and Sparta Prague.
There has to be a victor on Sunday. If the scores are level after 90 minutes, 30 minutes extra time will be played. If there is still no winner the tie will be decided on penalties.
This is the only tie left over from the fourth round - everyone else in cup action this weekend will play a fifth-round tie.
The winners of our game will play Middlesbrough in the fifth round at the Riverside on Wednesday 27 February.
The draw for the FA Cup quarter-finals is on Sunday at approx. 17.55 on FATV, ITV and ESPN, with the ties to be played on the weekend of 9/10 March. Should Chelsea beat Brentford we will share the ball number eight with Middlesbrough.
The full list is as follows:
1 Huddersfield Town or Wigan Athletic
2 MK Dons or Barnsley
3 Oldham Athletic or Everton
4 Luton Town or Millwall
5 Arsenal or Blackburn Rovers
6 Manchester City or Leeds United
7 Manchester United or Reading
8 Middlesbrough or Brentford or Chelsea
FA Cup fifth round fixtures
Saturday
Luton v Millwall 12.45pm - ESPN
Arsenal v Blackburn 3pm
MK Dons v Barnsley 3pm
Oldham v Everton 6pm - ITV1
Sunday
Chelsea v Brentford 12pm - ITV1 (fourth round replay)
Manchester City v Leeds 2pm - ESPN
Huddersfield v Wigan 3.55pm - ITV1
Monday
Manchester United v Reading 8pm - ESPN
Barclays Premier League fixture
Sunday
Liverpool v Swansea 3pm
Click on tabs above for more briefing.
There are still some seats in hospitality areas available for the game.
