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... not madness per se, but again a great example of how British players just seem to cost so much more than they need to.

Dave Nugent has signed for Portsmouth for a fee of  just over £6 million. He joins from Preston North End, where he has played well enough to earn an England cap (and score a goal too).

The former Bury youngster is only 22, and has a bright future ahead of him, but the fee is still on the higher side, considering that he has no Premiership experience and that his record of 33 goals in 96 games for PNE is hardly prolific.

I think Nugent has chosen well with Portsmouth though. He could have signed for Sunderland, but at Pompey he doesn't have to have the pressure of relegation and expectation, and he's also got an experienced manager who knows how to get the best from his players. He'll have better players around him as well, and be in a settled team that is financially able.

John Utaka also signs for Portsmouth from Rennes. The fee is undisclosed, but is probably around the £3-4 million mark. This is a transfer that has been going on for ages, and Utaka let the media know a while ago that he was looking forward to joining his compatriot Kanu at Portsmouth.

Utaka is a good, but inconsistent player; very talented, but seemingly very raw at times. He's 24, and Redknapp will need to work on him a bit. Still, he's tall, strong, fast, and an exciting dribbler. He's skillful, although a hit-and-miss finisher, and is also not too bad in the air. This is going to be an exciting signing for Pompey fans, and it's nice that they have options in attack now.

Hopefully you cringed at that photo, I know I did. Well gimpy, chavvy, wannabe enfant terrible Craig "Bellers" Bellamy has signed for West Ham for a reported fee of £8 million. EIGHT! Somehow... Liverpool managed to sell Bellamy on for a profit. A player who signed for £6 million, scored just 7 league goals in 27 games, got arrested for hitting a girl in a nightclub, and hit a teammate with a golf club, has somehow been sold on for a profit. Lovely!

Bellamy is a serious talent - quick, tricky, left-footed and with a powerful shot, but he has the personality of a menstruating Satan. He first arrived in the Premiership at Coventry, as a replacement for the Inter-bound Robbie Keane. Since then, he's gone to Newcastle, Celtic, Blackburn, Liverpool, and now West Ham all in the space of 6 years (giving Anelka a run for his money). Anyways, good luck to West Ham, Eggert Magnusson and "Bellers".

Jason Koumas, has signed for Wigan for £5.3 million. This probably tops the list of ridiculously priced transfers, and furthermore the present Wigan manager Chris Hutchings has one of the worst transfer records ever. When Jewell left Bradford, it was Hutchings who stepped up from Assistant to Manager, and spent about £10 million (that Bradford couldn't afford) on awful players, got them relegated (and was sacked), and they are suffering in League One now. Wigan are a stronger side than that, and chairman Dave Whelan has money, but spending this much money on Koumas is wild.

Now don't get me wrong, Koumas is a talented guy, as he kid he was very highly rated and in West Brom's first season in the Premiership he had some great moments. He then went through a huge slump, and was out of favour and on-loan at Cardiff. But last year at the Baggies he had a great season, helping them to the playoffs, and was named the Championship player of the year. But he's 27 now, and has only really had ONE season at the top of his game, and that too in the Championship.