STOKE v CHELSEA
This fifth round tie will evoke memories, certainly for Stoke fans, of the greatest day in the club's history when they took on and beat the multi-talented internationals of Chelsea 2-1 in the 1972 League Cup Final. Potters fans will say 'thank you very much' for the same result on Sunday but the only links between that Wembley triumph, the only trophy won in Stoke history, and this match is off the field.
Terry Conroy, who was in the Potters' midfield 31 years ago, now works on the commercial side at the Britannia Stadium and Gordon Banks, who kept goal in 1972, is the current club president.
Stoke's chances of causing an upset virtually disappeared with the suspension that deprives Tony Pulis of the only Stoke player good enough to walk into the Chelsea side, Peter Hoekstra. The former Ajax winger has been in sparkling form this season and has been instrumental in giving City an outside chance of winning their fight to avoid relegation from the First Division and they will miss his quality.
Another quality player, one of many in the Chelsea squad, Gianfranco Zola, has been a doubt all week with a hamstring injury he picked up against Birmingham City. If he fails to make the team Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink should come in for his first start in five games.
But Stoke boss Pulis isn't placing any great optimism on the outcome of the game even if Zola doesn't play. He said: "To be honest, it doesn't make any difference to how they play if Zola is injured. I don't think it will weaken them much."
Chelsea did have a boost this week when John Terry reported fit again and Mario Stanic resumed training. But Stoke had a scare after Petur Marteinsson was injured in training. The Icelandic international was thought to have broken a small bone in a toe, on his left foot, but X-rays revealed it was just a case of severe bruising so he is available to line up against his best mate, Chelsea's Icelandic striker, Eidur Gudjohnsen.
Stoke also had another boost when full back Wayne Thomas recovered from a bout of sickness. One player who will be sweating on another fifth round tie is Frazer Richardson, on loan at Stoke from Leeds United, who are in action earlier on the day against Gillingham. Leeds have said that if they loose to Gillingham Richardson can face Chelsea.
It's ironic that Stoke, owned and run by an Icelandic consortium, could be prevented from causing one of the biggest cup upsets of the season by Gudjohnsen. However, another of the Icelanders in the Stoke squad, Brynjar Gunnarsson, knows that it isn't simply a case of stopping Gudjohnsen.
He says: "Eidur is a very good player in very good form but you don't really handle him any different on the day. Our centre halves just have to communicate and make sure they cover one another but I think they may have a few other players too worry about."
And that is the crucial factor in this tie. Chelsea, on the face of it, have too much, in every department, to even give Stoke a sniff of victory, but this is the FA Cup. However, looking objectively at the game, there could well be a few goals in it, and not necessarily in the Stoke net.
BEARDO'S VERDICT: The home side are very vulnerable at the back, as is illustrated by their plight in the bottom three of Division One. But in Chris Greenacre and Chris Iwelumo they have two strikers who work hard, and non-stop, and they could well cause a few problems for Chelsea's international defence. Not enough to prevent an away win though.
