Bristol Rovers v Southampton

Cardiff v Wolves

Sheff Utd v Middlesbrough*

Liverpool v Barnsley

Manchester United v Arsenal*

Preston v Portsmouth*

Coventry v West Brom

Chelsea v Huddersfield

(Ties to be played on February 16th and 17th)

With just 6 Premier League sides left in the 16 teams in the 5th round, it promises to be a very interesting cup.

The choice fixture of course is Manchester United hosting Arsenal at home. The FA Cup has thrown up some crackers between these two teams over the years, and none more so than the semi-final replay in 1999 - Beckham opened the scoring with a great long-range goal, Bergkamp equalised with a neat one himself, Roy Keane got sent off, Schmeichel saved Bergkamp's penalty, and then Ryan Giggs scored THAT wonder goal, and United went on to win the treble. Then in 2003, Arsenal sent a second-stringish side to Old Trafford and won 2-0, with goals from Edu and Wiltord, and Franny Jeffers putting in a memorable hard-working performance up-front. The next meeting was the semi-final in 2004, Arsenal were unbeaten and top of the league, and a few players were rested for this fixture. United ended up winning 2-0, some might say unjustly, after Arsenal had had the post twice and wasted several chances to take the lead early on in the game. And finally, in 2005, the teams met in the final of the FA Cup. Arsenal were negative and lucky (but decimated by injuries), and nervously saw out the 90 minutes goalless, before Jens Lehmann made an excellent save from Scholes' spot-kick to seal the penalty shootout and cup for Arsenal.

You can expect another very entertaining fixture, although both teams will be resting players because of the Champions League, and Man United are likely to have the better side out, since they have a larger, stronger squad.

The other matchup of interest is Sheff Utd vs Middlesborough. The Blades have an excellent cup record, and have engineered many upsets over the years. Even though Neil Warnock is gone, they still have a strong setup, and Bryan Robson keeps his troops spirited. Middlesborough had some difficulty seeing off lowly Mansfield Town in the previous round, and are ripe for an upset given their indifferent form over the season. The arrival of Afonso Alves might just give them a big boost though.

Chelsea won't have much trouble with Huddersfield, although Liverpool might with Barnsley, especially given the proximity of these fixtures to the Champions League ties. The Blues' young striker Scott Sinclair started out at Huddersfield, and may just get a long run-out in this fixture.

Portsmouth should be able to beat Preston, although it will be a very tricky fixture for them. Pompey benchwarmer Dave Nugent will be coming up against his former club, where he did so well and earned his first England cap. 

Cardiff and Wolves will be a tight all-Championship fixture, as will Coventry v West Brom (in addition to being a Midlands derby), and Southampton should dispatch Bristol Rovers without much trouble

Well, here's a surprise. Peter "Prudent Financial Genius" Ridsdale is at the head of a club that is facing administration and battles with creditors. Sound familiar? Of course it does... because our friend Peter is responsible for the fall (and to be fair, the meteoric rise before that) of Leeds United Football Club. I'll never really be too harsh on him, because I hated Leeds, but really... who hires an administrative head who spends £250,000 a year on tropical fish, £11m on Robbie Fowler, and gives Seth Johnson a first and final contract offer of £50,000 a week.

Well, Cardiff City did.

I'm not sure what exactly they had in mind when appointing Ridsdale as Chairman, but it certainly wasn't common sense. Ridsdale was initially appointed in 2006 as Vice-Chairman to help with Cardiff's project for a new stadium (this is the man who borrowed £60m against future gate receipts at Leeds, and lost the stadium in the process), but was made Chairman when Sam Hammam stepped down. Quite what struggling Cardiff expected, i'm not sure, but they also seemed to have ignored the fact that in between these two forays, he was responsible for buying Barnsley and almost sending them into liquidation.

Ridsdale has now warned Cardiff fans that the club could go into administration if they lose their legal battle against Swiss firm Langston, who are their biggest creditors. Cardiff owe them £30m, and the Bluebirds are insisting that they don't have to pay the money back until 2016, whereas Langston want it NOWWWW.

Said P.Riddy - "If we were to lose we would go straight into administration - it's a straightforward situation, the club's Championship status would be determined by the amount of points we collect come the end of the season, minus 10." Recently relegated Leeds and Luton have both suffered the 10 point administration penalty, and it's no joke for a struggling side.

Amusingly enough, the Stadium project which he was brought in for over a year ago is still unfinished. The Cardiff City council had granted them unconditional funding for the project, which involved a new stadium and accompanying athletics facility to replace the ruinous Leckwith Athletics site in the city. However, this is severely in doubt now, and if the club went into administration, the council would most certainly rethink its decision for unconditional funding.

Said P.Riddy again - "In terms of the stadium it would depend who buys the football club, whether they prove to be an acceptable partner for the council and whether they have enough money to finish the stadium, which would probably be about £20m."

Excellent stuff Peter! Cardiff now have to find approximately £50m pounds to complete the stadium AND satisfy their creditors (assuming the case is lost).