Ahead of Valentine’s weekend, there is personal and sporting romance in the air as Blues boss Liam Rosenior returns to a club whose pitch he once graced and whose players – including an on-loan Liam Delap – he managed.

It is also Friday the 13th, which should guard against complacency when facing feisty hosts vying for automatic promotion to the top flight. Six Premier League sides have already failed to make it into the last 32 and more are guaranteed to stumble as a consequence of two top-tier ties.

Hull have had a clear week to prepare for the world champions’ visit after Bristol City ended their five-game unbeaten run with Saturday’s 3-2 win in Yorkshire. However, City boss Sergej Jakirovic hinted he will rotate his team ahead of a run of seven Championship fixtures over 22 days.

On Tuesday at Stamford Bridge, Liam Rosenior also saw his victory run end with a 2-2 draw against Leeds United, just three days after winning at Wolverhampton Wanderers – making this the Londoners’ third outing in seven days.

Chelsea were 5-1 winners at Charlton Athletic in round three of this competition, while Hull City won a penalty shootout at home to Blackburn Rovers after a goalless 120 minutes. That made Rovers the Tigers’ first third-round victims since Rotherham United in 2020. They faced five-time FA Cup winners Chelsea at home in the next round back then too, losing 2-1.

Now the Londoners are aiming to reach the fifth round of this competition for the 58th time.

The history

This weekend, Hull will become Chelsea’s joint-fourt-most-frequent FA Cup adversaries, our paths having crossed 11 times over eight previous ties, spanning 111 years.

The MKM Stadium is their third home in which we have claimed victory. Up to now, the Londoners are undefeated, recording eight wins, though the Tigers earned their stripes by forcing replays on three occasions.

One of those was the first meeting at Anlaby Road in January 1909. George Hilsdon scored Chelsea’s breakthrough, but City equalised and it finished 1-1 after the hosts put a potential winning penalty wide of goal. ‘Gatling Gun’ Hilsdon scored the only goal of the replay at Stamford Bridge four days later.

The two teams met a year later in London, at the same stage, producing a 2-1 win for the hosts.

More than half a century passed before another cup rendezvous in 1966 and another deadlock, this time 2-2 in a quarter-final at the Bridge. Boothferry Park proved a happy hunting ground for Tommy Docherty’s men, who progressed to the semi-finals by three goals to one.

The third draw between the two came in January 1982, 0-0 at the Bridge, but then 2-0 to Chelsea in the replay on Humberside thanks to Alan Mayes and John Bumstead.

In 1992, 10 years on, two former Wimbledon ‘Crazy Gang’ members Vinnie Jones and Dennis Wise sealed a 2-0 away win.

Gianluca Vialli’s all-star team were in their pomp and en route to winning the trophy in December 1999, thrashing the Tigers 6-1 on their own patch. Gustavo Poyet grabbed a hat-trick and Chris Sutton notched his only cup goal for the Blues, as the scoring lasted from the eighth minute to the 90th.

Our round five meeting in 2018 was over before half-time, Willian’s brace contributing to a 4-0 half-time scoreline that did not change after the break.

Most recently, at the then KCOM stadium in January 2020, a deflected free-kick halved the deficit for the Jarrod Bowen-inspired hosts, when the Blues had been cruising 2-0 through Michy Batshuayi and Fikayo Tomori. That one finished 2-1.

Know this...

Chelsea have gone on to the final the last three times we have met the Tigers in the FA Cup – winners in 1999/00 and 2017/18, runners-up in 2019/20.

The Londoners have progressed from 62 of our past 64 FA Cup ties against lower-league sides, including each of the past 23.

The fifth goal in our 5-1 victory at the Valley in round three by Enzo Fernandez was the 800th scored by the Blues in this competition.

Hull have scored the opening goal in 19 of their 31 Championship matches, but have failed to keep a clean sheet in 12 of their past 16 at the MKM Stadium.

The Tigers’ home loss to Bristol City on Saturday was twice delayed because a squirrel was on the pitch. A year ago, Norwich scored during a similar rodent incident at the MKM Stadium.

Only five clubs have committed more fouls than Hull City (349) in the Football League’s top division.

Chelsea's most frequent FA Cup opponents

Hull were Chelsea’s first-ever league visitors to Stamford Bridge, on 11 September 1905. David Copeland bagged a brace and Jimmy Windridge notched the club’s first hat-trick in a 5-1 victory.

Each FA Cup tie will be decided on the day, with no replays. Should the scores be level after second-half stoppage time, 30 minutes of extra time will be played and, if necessary, the winner will be determined by penalty kicks.

The draw for round five will be carried out during pre-match coverage of Macclesfield against Brentford, a 7.30pm kick-off on Monday. All fifth-round ties will be played over the weekend of 7-8 March.