Tonight at 8pm, Barnsley meet 8-time FA Cup winners Chelsea for the second time this season. However, this time there’s a place in the FA Cup quarter-final at stake.
Barnsley, who have had nearly a fortnight off, have Romal Palmer and Toby Sibbick back from injury for the FA Cup fifth-round clash at Oakwell, while new signing Daryl Dike is also available.
Barnsley manager Valerien Ismael has said the fixture with Chelsea comes too quickly for the likes of Aapo Halme, Ben Williams and Liam Kitching, who are all likely to miss out through injury.
Chelsea’s only notable absentee for the cup clash will be experienced 36-year-old defender Thiago Silva, who manager Thomas Tuchel has ruled out while he still recovers from a thigh issue.
Barnsley were thrashed 6-0 by Chelsea in the Carabao Cup in September at Stamford Bridge, but will hope for a change of fortune this evening. Barnsley have won both of their FA Cup meetings with Chelsea, winning 4-0 in the third round in 1989 and 1-0 in the quarter-final in 2008- both victories in front of a bouncing Oakwell stadium.
Since Barnsley triumphed against Liverpool and Chelsea en-route to reaching the FA Cup semi-finals in 2007-08, the Yorkshire club have lost five in a row against top-flight sides by a 15-2 aggregate score line.
Chelsea by comparison have been eliminated from the FA Cup by lower-division teams just twice in their last 54 ties, with Bradford City, the other club on that short list, alongside Barnsley.
Last season’s finalists Chelsea eased past Morecambe and Luton Town to reach this stage, while Barnsley have eliminated Tranmere Rovers and Norwich City without conceding a goal.
Tuchel and Ismaël are no stranger to each other, since they went head-to-head when both were in charge of Dortmund and Wolfsburg respectively.
Four years on and they meet again in football’s oldest cup competition, with a place in the FA Cup Quarter-final on the line. The match is being televised live on BBC One from 7.30pm, with kick-off at 8pm.