A look ahead to our Emirates FA Cup fifth round ties with some of the best stats

Friday 28 Feb 2020
Thierry Henry was on the scoresheet twice last time Arsenal met Portsmouth in the FA Cup

The Emirates FA Cup is back again and we're down to the final 16 teams as they prepare to play out the fifth round under the lights from between 2 and 6 March. 

Monday night is reserved for Arsenal's trip to Fratton Park to face 2008 winners Portsmouth as Mikel Arteta chases his first piece of managerial silverware. 

Pompey don't exactly have the best record against the Gunners, not beating them in any competition since winning a league match 5-4 in March 1958, according to Opta stats (drawing eight and losing 13 of their 21 meetings since then).

Last time the Gunners went to Fratton Park in the competition was back in 2004 and they left with a 5-1 win under their belts as Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg both bagged braces. 

The tie might well be something England boss Gareth Southgate keeps one eye on too, as all three of Arsenal’s FA Cup goals this season have been scored by English players under the age of 21.

Eddie Nketiah scored his first goal for Arsenal this season against Bournemouth in round four

Tuesday night will host three games headlined by the slightly earlier 'tie of the round' as Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea for the first time since the 2012 Final. 

Chelsea just edge Liverpool in the overall-success stakes having won the competition eight times compared to the Reds' seven - five of those titles coming since Liverpool last lifted the trophy in 2006. 

Jurgen Klopp has never taken his side past this stage of the competition either while Frank Lampard will be looking to add to the four winners' medals he collected during his playing days. 

There are another two games scheduled for Tuesday night both including Premier League teams on the road to Championship grounds. 

The first of which will see Reading host Sheffield United, having lost their last four meetings with the Blades and six of their last seven FA Cup ties against Premier League opponents. 

And the other will see Newcastle United travel to face West Bromwich Albion with just two wins in their last nine visits to the Hawthorns. 

The Toon boast a good record at this stage of the competition though having progressed to the quarter-finals in each of the last seven times they’ve got this far – this is however their first fifth round match since 2005-06. 

Liverpool and Chelsea have won 15 FA Cups between them

Wednesday night will see another triple-header of fixtures with reigning champions Manchester City in action as they face Sheffield Wednesday

The Owls are winless in their last 11 meetings with City, dating back to a Premier League win at Maine Road in Novemeber 1993 and are facing the holders for the second season in a row after going out to Chelsea last time around. 

And they will need to stop City's man-in-form in the FA Cup, Gabriel Jesus, if they want to progress with the Brazilian contributing to six goals in his last three appearances (five goals, one assist). 

There is another all-Premier League clash on Wednesday night as bottom-side Norwich City face a trip to north London to visit Jose Mourinho's Tottenham Hotspur

Norwich have been eliminated from 13 of their last 15 FA Cup ties against Premier League opponents but Spurs' record against them is not great, progressing from just one of their previous four ties with Norwich doing so in the most recent such encounter back in January 1993.

And Leicester City are in action against Birmingham City, against whom they have a perfect record against in the competition. 

The Foxes' Kelechi Iheanacho could be the man to watch in this tie having scored 10 goals in 13 FA Cup appearances, including nine in nine starts in the competition.

Kelechi Iheanacho scores against Brentford in the fourth round

And the fifth round is competed by Manchester United travelling to Pride Park on Thursday night to face Derby County and their own record-goalscorer Wayne Rooney. 

The Rams last beat the Red Devils in the competition in the quarter-final of the 1896-97 campaign, losing their last eight ties against Thursday night's visitors, most recently in 2018.

Rooney has never scored in six appearances against his former side Manchester United. The last player to score an FA Cup goal against United having previously played for the Red Devils was Danny Welbeck with Arsenal in March 2015.

By Tom Dean