Ah, the magic of the cup. When I was a kid, the weekend of the third round of the FA Cup was the most highly anticipated in the football season. I loved it. Live football on the TV and lots of big games and big upsets. It was also due to the fact we didn’t have Sky, Setanta, or ESPN, so this was the only chance to watch club football LIVE on terrestrial TV.
Fulham’s recent FA Cup adventures have been largely successful in that we’ve been knocking on the door of Wembley, but we’ve ultimately fallen short at the quarter-final stage twice in the last three seasons. Can we go one better this year?
Silva on the FA Cup: “I love the competition – simple as that. I really believe that every time you put on the shirt, it doesn’t matter the competition that we play. You have to go and play the game to win.
“It’s the oldest competition in the world, very, very important one, that can give you the chance to do something at the club. You have always a chance to dream for something or to fight for something – more fight than to dream, to be honest.”
Silva provided some team news & updates on the potential returns of Kenny Tete & Josh King:
“Muniz, Tete and King are out. Everyone else is in contention.”
On King & Tete: “I don’t know, really. It could be weeks. It’s difficult now. They are running outside already, like Rodrigo, different conditions, it’s going to take longer. But nice to see them working outside.
“Some work on the grass too. Let’s see how they are going to react next week again and step by step I can give more updates to you and more feedback about it. I cannot say that they are going to be ready for Leeds; probably not.”
This is the fifth season that Marco Silva has been in charge, and for the fifth season in a row, Fulham have been drawn against a Championship side.
21/22: Bristol City 0-1 Fulham (AET)
22/23: Hull 0-2 Fulham
23/24 Fulham 1-0 Rotherham (Championship at the time, now in League One)
24/25: Fulham 4-1 Watford
25/26: Fulham v Middlesbrough
Boro are chasing promotion to the Premier League, and have had a decent start to life under Kim Hellberg, after Rob Edwards left for Wolves.
They’re coming off the back of an empathic 4-0 win against Southampton, having failed to score in their previous four games before that.
They’ll sold out their allocation in the Putney End, and will be aiming to knock out a side in the division above. But, Fulham approach the FA Cup with the ambition of reaching the last stages, so I’m sure tomorrow will be an interesting contest.
Can Fulham extend their unbeaten run to seven games? We will find out tomorrow, with no replays.
After this, the schedule is a little less congested, but a cup run which always brings extra fixtures will be most welcome for Silva and the fans.
See you tomorrow – COYW!