Arsenal Vs Hull Today 3:45pm
My Prediction: The Gunners 3-1 Hull
This will be a replay of the 2014 FA Cup final where Arsenal only won the Cup in extra time. That was a final; this is a 5th round tie. It’s not the same. Anyone in a final fights for their lives; here it will be tough for Hull to beat such an inspired Gunners side who want everything this term. The Gunners have received a lot of criticism this week; infact since the year began; that we don’t have the quality of players to win important games; but football is more than just having the best players; it’s about having the best team. And the Gunners team I see right now is fired up! Talented of course but more importantly fired up! The last minute goal against Leicester was an insight into how much the squad want to win games this term. Hull won’t be easy to beat. They are top of the Championship for a reason and looks set to join the English Premier League next season. But I think they are clearly more focused on just that; gaining promotion as that would be more important than the FA Cup. We’ll be nice hosts at Emirates but we won’t allow them to leave with anything.
Chelsea Vs Manchester City Sunday 7pm
My Prediction: The Blues 2-2 The Citizens
Two weeks ago I would have handed this game to Man City without a doubt. But their last two weeks in the league have been nothing to write home about. A loss to Spurs last weekend and an embarrassing home loss to Leicester the week before that shows that there’s something wrong in Manchester. It could be that Manuel Pellegrini is upset because he knows his job won’t last beyond this season so he has no reason to impress his bosses at the Etihad; who knows! Vincent Kompany returned to the squad last weekend but couldn’t rescue his side. He will however have settled by tomorrow and since their chances of winning the English Premier League are slipping away; they will be looking at the FA Cup thinking that it could be their only real chance of silverware this season; along with the League Cup of course; which isn’t guaranteed either. Chelsea meanwhile are struggling as well. Their loss in France in the Champions League looks like they should kiss potential European success goodbye; and they too will be hoping to get silverware here. But both clubs have been below par this term but both sides on a good day have the quality to beat the other. This is really tough to predict so I’ll do the obvious. All square!
Shrewsbury Vs Manchester United Monday
My Prediction: Shrewsbury 2-2 The Red Devils
I confess that this has been the toughest season ever to prediction matches in England. Again I say that a week ago I would have handed this game to Manchester United without a blink of an eye; but after seeing what happened in the Europa league last Thursday I can’t be so sure. Key United players are injured and this is the worst time of the season for that to happen. From Captain Wayne Rooney to Marouane Fellaini; to David de Gea; although the keeper’s injury may be very short term. Shrewsbury is currently 19th in League One; which is one league below the Championship. They beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 to bet here so they aren’t as useless as you may assume. Their Manager is called Micky Mellon and he says they cannot wait for host Man United in their small town. He’s seeing it as a day in the sunshine but he just needs to have a chat with the Manager of Midtjylland to know that just because it’s Man United; it doesn’t mean you won’t have more days in the sunshine. I’m banking on a draw here; particularly if De Gea doesn’t recover in time.