FA Cup Round 5 Preview: United face battle at City Ground

Following the drama of the Carabao Cup, we turn our attention to the FA Cup 5th round where 16 teams remain to battle it out in the primary English knockout competition.

We preview two of the upcoming fixtures below.

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Blackburn Rovers v Newcastle United – Tuesday 20:00  

Blackburn face off against their FA Cup bogey team Newcastle, who have eliminated them from seven of their nine FA Cup ties – most recently a 4-2 defeat at home in a third-round replay in 2018/19.

Newcastle enter the fixture as 1/2 favourites and, given they have progressed from each of their last FA Cup fifth round ties, you’d imagine they have the right to be so short against a side they have such a great record against. Frontman Alexander Isak is the favourite to net against Blackburn at 17/20, with Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon close behind at 23/20 and 5/4 respectively.

For Blackburn, it’ll be Sammie Szmodics (21/10) looking to etch his name onto the scoresheet for the sixth time in their FA Cup campaign, having scored in each of his last four FA Cup appearances. Blackburn managed to reach the quarterfinals of last year’s competition, and should they manage to overcome Newcastle, it’ll be the first time they have reached consecutive quarterfinals in the FA Cup since the 1928/29 season.

The odds suggest that Blackburn (9/2) are the outsiders in the build-up to this clash, and Newcastle will be expecting to breeze past them in their pursuit for a bit of silverware this season.

Nottingham Forest v Manchester United – Wednesday 19:45

These two teams haven’t faced off against each other in the FA Cup since the 1989/90 season, where Manchester United ended Forest’s hot streak against them in the competition 4-2, having progressed from all four of their previous FA Cup meetings. Granted, the statistic doesn’t hold as much value thirty years later but considering United lost at the City Ground earlier this season 2-1 in the Premier League, Forest might be in with a better chance than the odds suggest (11/5).

Manchester United have had a tumultuous season thus far, with doubts around Erik ten Hag’s leadership plaguing them for most of the season. Having just lost to Fulham on Saturday, who put an end to their seven-game unbeaten streak (which started after Forest’s win against them in December), the Red Devils may not be as confident as they should be going into this game. However, United are 21/10 favourites ahead of this clash, and with Rasmus Hojlund out with an injury, Marcus Rashford is the favourite to score at 7/4, with Alejandro Garnacho a close second at 11/5.

For Forest, it’ll be than Divock Origi (21/10) and Taiwo Awoniyi (15/8) who’ll be pining to hit the back of the net to secure a place further in the competition having scraped a place in the fifth round following two replays with both Blackpool and Bristol City. They will likely have their Premier League clash against Liverpool this weekend at the back of their mind, so they will l be looking to jump into that game full of confidence with a win there.

As far as upsets go, Forest have a good chance here to deny United the chance to expand on their record of reaching the FA Cup quarterfinal 47 times in the past. You’d have to side with the latter though, as ten Hag will be more than willing to walk away with something this season, and given they reached the final last year, his sights will be set on going one step further in 2024.