2019-20 FA Cup 5th Round Proper: map with attendances & fixture list.
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By Bill Turianski on 26 Febuary 2020; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-The competition…FA Cup .
-2019-20 FA Cup/5th Round (en.wikipedia.org).
-BBC.com/fa-cup.
Question: Why are this season’s FA Cup 5th round matches being played in midweek?
Answer: Because of the clout that the Premier League has…specifically the biggest Premier League clubs. Last season, 4 Premier League clubs reached the Champions League knockout stages, and 2 Premier League clubs reached the Europa League knockout stages. (Those 6 clubs were Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, and Spurs in the 18/19 UEFA CL knockout stage; and Arsenal and Chelsea in the 18/19 UEFA EL knockout stage.) So the issue of fixture congestion was raised.
The Premier League pushed for changes, and the FA has complied. Not only will all eight of the 5th Round matches this season be played in the midweek, but all matches from the 5th Round on will not feature replays…a match ending in a draw will head to extra time and, if necessary, penalties, to decide the winner.
The one mitigating factor I can see with the scrapping of replays at this late a point in the competition, is this… the smaller and lower-placed clubs – those that would benefit most (financially) from relatively lucrative replays – will have mostly been eliminated. As is the case this season (with the lowest-placed club still alive being 3rd-division-side Portsmouth, who are currently averaging a healthy 17.8 K per game).
But, not last season (2018-19), when small 4th-division-side Newport County and small 3rd-division-side AFC Wimbledon were both still alive in the 5th Round. And not two seasons ago (2017-18), when small 3rd-division-side Rochdale were still alive in the 5th Round…and in February of 2018 Rochdale drew 2-2 with Tottenham (at Spotland), which led to a 5th Round replay resulting in a 6-1 defeat of Rochdale by Spurs, in front of 24,600 ticket-paying fans at Wembley in London. So, about half of the substantial gate receipts from that replay went to a cash-poor Rochdale, a club that draws only around 3.5 K, and who have been punching above their weight in the 3rd division for a number of years now. That is what is being scrapped, by scrapping 5th Round replays.
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The 2019-20 FA Cup 5th Round fixtures, which feature ten Premier League teams (1), five EFL Championship teams (2), and one EFL League One team (3)…
Monday the 2nd of March:
•Arsenal (1) v Portsmouth (3).
Tuesday the 3rd of March:
•Chelsea (1) v Liverpool (1);
•Reading (2) v Sheffield United (1);
•West Bromwich Albion (2) v Newcastle United (1).
Wednesday the 4th of March:
•Sheffield Wednesday (2) v Manchester City (1);
•Leicester City (1) v Birmingham City (2);
•Tottenham Hotspur (1) v Norwich City (1).
Thursday the 5th of March:
•Derby County (2) v Manchester United (1).
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Thanks to all at the links below…
-Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-Blank relief map of Greater Manchester, by Nilfanion (using Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater Manchester UK relief location map.jpg.
-Blank relief map of West Midlands, by Nilfanion, at File:West Midlands UK relief location map.jpg -List of Greater Manchester settlements by population.
-Attendances from worldfootball.net.
