FA Cup Fifth Round Draw: Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur travel to tricky Championship opposition as Boreham Wood take on Everton

As we enter the latter stages of the FA Cup, the teams remaining in the competition start believing that it could be them lifting the trophy at Wembley.

Premier League sides Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham travel to second-tier opposition as Boreham Wood take on Everton in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup.

Last year’s runners-up, Chelsea, visit Luton Town as Manchester City head to the Weston Homes Stadium to take on relegation-threatened Peterborough United.

Southampton, who knocked out Championship side Coventry City in Round Four, host fellow Premier League side West Ham in the next round of the competition. The Hammers needed extra-time to eventually overcome National League North promotion hopefuls Kidderminster Harriers in an enthralling encounter at the Aggborough Stadium in the previous round.

Crystal Palace will welcome Stoke City to Selhurst Park after both sides secured 2-0 wins in the Fourth Round beating Hartlepool United and Wigan Athletic respectively.

Norwich City face Liverpool at Anfield in Round Five as the Reds beat Cardiff City 3-1 to edge a step close to an FA Cup final. Huddersfield Town will travel to Nottingham Forest after they thrashed holders Leicester City, while Frank Lampard’s Everton host National League side Boreham Wood.

Round-up of Round Four

Jurgen Klopp’s men will take on the Canaries in the Fifth Round after goals from Diogo Jota, Takumi Minamino and Harvey Elliott secured a 3-1 win over Cardiff.

Boreham Wood overcame Championship opposition as the Non-League outfit beat second-tier high-flyers Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.

However, there were some ugly scenes at the City Ground after Forest scored their third goal. A Leicester City fan raced onto the pitch and began launching an unprovoked attack on several of the Reds players.

The supporter emerged from the away section of the City Ground before throwing punches at the Forest players, who were at the time celebrating Joe Worrall’s goal.

Nottinghamshire Police said they had arrested a man after the incident which happened during the first half of the Fourth Round contest.

Chief Inspector Neil Williams said:

“We have arrested a man in connection with an incident that took place today during the first half of the Nottingham Forest and Leicester City FA Cup match.

“Investigations are in the very early stages and our enquiries into the circumstances surrounding the incident are ongoing.”

The Foxes were quick to apologise to Forest for the incident and said in a statement that the fan was facing a lifetime ban.

Boreham Wood, who held onto secure Fifth Round qualification for the first time in the club’s history, were simply the team of the round

It had been a fairly even opening to the game with very little in the way of chances. Boreham Wood’s organisation restricted and often frustrated Scott Parker’s high-flying Bournemouth in front of a packed out Vitality Stadium.

The Wood restricted the Cherries to barely anything, with the hosts’ best opportunity coming right at the end when Lewis Cook fired an effort well over the crossbar.

With Bournemouth set up to play out from the back, this invited Luke Garrard’s men to press them. However, in all fairness, it was a desire to succeed and a strong belief that anything is possible in the FA Cup that drove them.

In addition to that, Boreham Wood are yet to concede a single goal in the entirety of the competition so far.

Garrard’s team were deserved winners. They rode their luck at times towards the end, with Scott Parker seeing three of his Bournemouth substitutes go close to the equaliser.

Philip Billing blew a one-on-one chance, Ryan Christie saw a shot come back off the crossbar and, at the very end, Dominic Solanke dragged his shot wide.

When the opportunity came to the Wood, they took it very well. Jacob Mendy burst to the by-line to pull back a low cross, which produced a rushed and unconvincing clearance from Bournemouth midfielder, Gavin Kilkenny.

Mark Ricketts was waiting and his sidefooted shot went through a crowd, kissed the inside of the post and went in. In the technical area, Garrard tried to show little emotion before he threw the contents of his water bottle up and all over the place which he commented more on in his post-match press conference.

“We rode our luck. I tell my boy every Sunday to be a good team player. That is what we did. I am going to get emotional. They are unbelievable, these boys.”

Although Bournemouth huffed and puffed they could not break down the dogged and admittedly desperate defending by the Wood’s defence.

By the time Dominic Solanke had dragged his shot just wide of the post, it was becoming clear to everyone, especially the travelling Boreham Wood fans, that it would be them who would be making history.

Only three times previously have Boreham Wood taken a Football League scalp in the FA Cup, with Blackpool in the 2017/18 season, Southend United last season and AFC Wimbledon in the Third Round of the competition this time out.

Peterborough have been rewarded for their best-ever FA Cup run in over 36 years with a visit from Premier League champions Manchester City.

The Posh, who beat Championship rivals QPR 2-0 on Saturday, progress to the Fifth Round for the first time since 1986.

Darren Ferguson’s men were one of a host of second-tier clubs to be given plum ties in the next round, with European champions Chelsea travelling to Luton.

Manchester United’s conquers Middlesbrough now entertain Spurs as a reward for their victory over the former cup kings at Old Trafford in the Friday Night encounter.

Boro, who claimed victory after a dramatic penalty shootout, will be keen to show the same stubbornness and determination against difficult Premier League opponents at a packed out Riverside Stadium.

Whatever happens from now until the Wembley final in May, we have witnessed a fantastic advert for Non-League football and it is clear that the tide is turning. It may be only slightly, however, there is clearly an increase in the quality that is being produced regularly from the teams in Vanarama National Leagues.

We only have to look at the hard work put in by Kidderminster against West Ham to see the tiers that separate the giants from the giant killers is improving. Add to that the drama at Bournemouth which saw Scott Parker’s Championship hopefuls ousted by Boreham Wood, it clearly shows that things are definitely changing and we may no longer consider these as giant-killing exploits.

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