FA Cup and Premier League: 11 things to look out for this weekend
1) Kompany can cause shock on return
Who can forget Vincent Kompany stepping up to power in a 71st-minute winner v Leicester for what was his final Manchester City goal in a game Pep Guardiola’s side had to win to set up the chance to seal the title in their next and final match of 2018-19? They did, City subsequently became champions, and the captain, Kompany, had a dream end to a garlanded 11 years at the club. Now it could be reverse-fortunes time as the Belgian plots Burnley’s elimination of Guardiola’s team from the FA Cup. Can he do so? Why not: Kompany’s Clarets are the 13point runaway leaders of the Championship and knockout football is all about romantic upsets. Jamie Jackson
FA Cup quarter-final: Manchester City v Burnley, Saturday 5.45pm
2) A battle for history at Bramall Lane
It’s been eight years since a team from outside the Premier League made the semi-finals of the FA Cup (Reading, in 2015). That drought will end this Sunday as one of Sheffield United or Blackburn will progress to the last four. This is the most open and inclusive edition of the tournament for some time – half of the final eight teams play outside the top flight. Sheffield United were third-tier semi-finalists in 2014, and this is their third quarter-final in four seasons. Blackburn have a shoddy record at Bramall Lane, having lost there in all four of their previous visits – and Rovers’ last win here came courtesy of an Alan Shearer double in 1994. A win this weekend and a trip to Wembley would provide a shot in the arm for either team as they both push for promotion. Daniel Gallan
FA Cup quarter-final: Sheffield United v Blackburn, Sunday 12pm
3) Will Grimsby hook another big fish?
Only five other teams from the fourth tier or lower have come as far as Grimsby have in 151 years. And though this is a dramatic mismatch, with 78 clubs separating the two teams, the underdogs have a genuine chance of becoming the lowest-ranked team to reach the last four of the FA Cup. They’re the first team to in the competition’s history to eliminate five opponents from a higher division in a single season. Plymouth Argyle (5-1), Cambridge
United (2-1), Burton (1-0), Luton (3-0 in a replay) were all beaten before Southampton were undone 2-1 on their own patch. The Brighton manager, Roberto De Zerbi, will no doubt want to avoid adding his club to the above list but, with the Seagulls flying in the league and chasing Europe, he might be tempted to rest some key players. Daniel Gallan
FA Cup quarter-final: Brighton v Grimsby, Sunday 2.15pm
4) Absences test Ten Hag’s ambitions
Casemiro, who knows a bit about winning and winning managers, has confessed “surprise” at Erik ten Hag’s obsessive need to do so, this assessment from the Brazilian coming with a subtext of admiration. Fulham’s visit offers the next step in the Dutchman’s attempt to lead Manchester United to a second trophy of the season. Casemiro
is suspended (the first of four games), so it should be Fred and one of Marcel Sabitzer and Scott McTominay in midfield, unless Ten Hag goes with a lone man there, as he did in Sunday’s goalless draw with Southampton in the league. Alejandro Garnacho, Christian Eriksen, Donny van de Beek are all also out for the foreseeable future, with Anthony Martial and Antony doubts after missing Thursday’s trip to Real Betis: further challenges for Ten Hag. JJ
FA Cup quarter-final: Manchester United v Fulham, Sunday 4.30pm
5) Local hero Johnson a big miss for Forest
Whether you sign three new players or however many Nottingham Forest have bought this season, somebody will always be nigh-on irreplaceable. Brennan Johnson is likely to miss Friday’s match with Newcastle due to a muscle injury, and that gives Steve Cooper – who has spent the season demonstrating a mastery of player-ego Jenga – a different kind of puzzle to solve. The closest thing he has to a replacement, Taiwo Awoniyi, is also injured. Johnson’s intrepid dynamism, confident finishing and almost telepathic relationship with Morgan Gibbs-White have been central to the success of Cooper’s counterattacking tactics. . The atmosphere will still be raucous at kick-off but with Johnson out, Forest will need to find a different way to sustain the mood. Rob Smyth
Premier League: Nottingham Forest v Newcastle, Friday 8pm 6) Ouattara’s oomph boosts Bournemouth
Want to make a footballer look good or bad? There’s a stat for that! In today’s dataverse, evidence can be found to fit any half-arsed observation. But some statistics will always jump out as being more meaningful than others. When Dango Ouattara created Philip Billing’s winner against Liverpool last weekend, various social-media accounts posted a list of the most assists by players aged 21 or under in Europe’s big five leagues this season. The most striking thing was not the number against Ouattara’s name, but the company he was keeping.
9 Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) 8 Jamal Musiala, Dango Ouattara
When Ouattara arrived in January, Bournemouth were on a run of six straight defeats. There are other reasons for their improvement, but he has given the team some much-needed oomph and optimism. His decisionmaking can be exasperating, as it is with 99% of 21-year-old wide players, and indeed 99 per cent of 21-year-olds. But Ouattara unsettles good defences