Chelsea host Port Vale in the FA Cup quarterfinal on Saturday evening at Stamford Bridge, as Liam Rosenior looks to dust off a woeful March and head into the business end of the season with some momentum on their side.
Port Vale are bottom of League One, and almost certain to be relegated to the fourth tier of English football for next season, but they have already had a dream cup run, including a superb home win in the fifth round against Premier League side Sunderland.
Chelsea are hot favourites to win this one, but Port Vale will look to once again channel the magic of the Cup, as they look to book themselves a spot in a Wembley semifinal.
Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday evening’s game:
How to watch
The match will be shown live on BBC One and TNT Sports 1 in the U.K., ESPN in the U.S., SonyLiv in India, and Stan Sports in Australia.
Key Details
Kick-off time: Sunday, March 22 at 5:15 p.m. BST (12:15 p.m. ET; 9:45 p.m. IST, and 2:15 a.m. AEST, Sunday)
Venue: Stamford Bridge, London
Referee: TBA
VAR: TBA
Team News
Chelsea
Benoît Badiashile, D: Illness, DOUBT
Jamie Gittens, F: hamstring, DOUBT
Filip Jorgensen, G: groin, OUT
Levi Colwill, D: knee, OUT
Reece James, D: hamstring, OUT
Trevoh Chalobah, D: ankle, OUT
Mykhaylo Mudryk, F: suspended, OUT
Port Vale
Ben Heneghan, D: OUT
George Byers, M: OUT
Talking PointsA huge day for Port ValePort Vale manager Jon Brady congratulates Ben Waine during their FA Cup win over Sunderland. Getty Images
Despite Chelsea’s recent form, this is a game that they should not just win, but one that they ought to use to win well and build confidence. Port Vale are bottom of League One, and have only won seven league games out of 38 so far this season. Over such a sustained period of time, league tables don’t lie. Chelsea are sixth in the English footballing ladder, Port Vale are 64th.
Port Vale have had excellent results in the last two rounds of the FA Cup – against Bristol City and Sunderland – but a trip to Stamford Bridge still represents a huge step up from even those teams.
For a team of Chelsea’s stature, this should be little more than a tricky banana peel that they should negotiate. However, with their recent form being uninspiring, who knows? The magic of the Cup could be alive at Stamford Bridge.
Rosenior needs a resultUnder pressure? Liam Rosenior has won just three of his past 12 games at Chelsea. Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Before the international break, Chelsea lost four games in a row, and nothing seemed to go to plan for Rosenior. In those four games, Chelsea conceded 12 times and scored only twice. In fact, they have not scored a goal in any of their last three games.
Rosenior needs to set things right, with Chelsea now only competing on two fronts – the FA Cup and the Premier League. They are outside the UEFA Champions League places as it stands in the Premier League, so they will need to start going on a consistent run of results, beginning with this FA Cup quarterfinal.
Particularly in that last game before the international break, Chelsea were outclassed, outplayed, and outfought by Everton in that 3-0 loss. The pressure on Rosenior was really amped up by that result, and that means that Chelsea needs to deliver a result and a performance against a team that they are expected to beat rather easily.
Can Cole Palmer end the season on a high? (Photo by David Horton – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Cole Palmer’s season, interrupted by injuries, has led to a lack of rhythm, which has adversely affected Chelsea’s campaign so far. Even in the match that he played for England against Japan in the international break, Palmer couldn’t stamp his authority on the game, as has been the case for much of this season.
Palmer has played 25 games in all competitions this season, and has 10 goals and three assists. In his last five Premier League appearances, he has just one goal. For Rosenior and Chelsea, the big concern will be how they get their main man back into his best form again. It’s not been for want of trying or fixing, though. Rosenior has tried to play Palmer on the right side of the Chelsea attack and as the no.10 as well, but it just hasn’t happened for him for a bulk of this season.
With an FA Cup title on the line and Champions League qualification still left to fight for, Chelsea will need their main man fit and firing for the last two months of the season.
Lack of defensive stability hurts Chelsea
Between Trevoh Chalobah, Tosin Adarabioyo, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile and Jorrell Hato, Chelsea have kept moving their pieces around in the centre-back position to try and find the best partnership. That is never a good sign, where the spine has kept changing. It is a sure-shot marker for inconsistency. Marc Cucurella has been something of an ever-present at left-back. Reece James’s recent injury has meant Malo Gusto deputising for him at right-back.
It’s difficult for any team to find consistency when so many changes are being made to the defence regularly, whether by choice or by force.
With Chalobah injured now, that narrows down the options for Rosenior to choose from, and perhaps, that could be a good thing for Chelsea.
What do the numbers say?
Chelsea will face Port Vale in a competitive fixture for the first time in 97 years.
The last time these two sides faced each other was in 1929, which was the 14th meeting between the two sides.
Chelsea have won seven of the 14 matches that they played against Port Vale in the past.