One at home, two away and an east v west derby - the FA Cup fate for London's survivors
- By Yann Tear
- 49 minutes ago
- 2 min read
March 7/8: FA Cup 5th Round
Fulham v Southampton
Mansfield Town v Arsenal
Wrexham v Chelsea
West Ham v Brentford
Other ties:
Port Vale/Bristol City v Sunderland
Newcastle v Man City
Leeds v Norwich City
Wolves v Liverpool
Brentford's slender Monday night win at non-league giant killers Macclesfield has earned them a fifth round tie at West Ham - a clash which will leave the winners one game away from a semi-final at Wembley.
The teams met in the third round at the Gtech three years ago, when Said Benrahma scored the winner for the Hammers against his old club. But the west Londoners should feel confident, having won on their last two visits to the London Stadium. In fact, they have won four of their last five trips to east London since gaining promotion to the Premier League.
In October, Igor Thiago and Mathias Jensen scored the goals that gave the Bees a 2-0 victory.
There are two intriguing ties for London's highest-placed remaining representatives, with Arsenal travelling to League One Mansfield and Chelsea off to north Wales to take on Ryan Reynolds' Championship high-flyers Wrexham.
The Gunners were once famously downed by Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground, but it is now Chelsea's turn to avoid that fate as they bid to reach the quarter-finals.
It will be only the 10th meeting between the clubs and first ones since 1982, when they met in the second tier and also clashed in that season's FA Cup. The Blues won 2-1 in a second replay but were beaten 1-0 on their last visit in the league.
But arguably the tie with the most romance will be at Field Mill - a venue Arsenal have never been to. It is an incredible 97 years since the only previous clash between Arsenal and Mansfield. The Gunners won an FA Cup clash 2-0 back in January 1929 at a time when they had only been at Highbury for 16 years.
Meanwhile, Fulham will be aiming to despatch a third Championship side in a row to reach the last eight of the competition. They have been drawn against Southampton at Craven Cottage.
The teams last met in the third round in 2018, when James Ward-Prowse scored he only goal to knock Fulham out in west London. There have been two other FA Cup meetings. Fulham won a replay 1-0 in 1999, when Barry Hayles scored the winner and the first ever meeting between the two clubs in 1915 ended in a 3-2 away win for Southampton.
