The start of the FA Cup for Chelsea pits us against Championship opposition for the first time this season. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton are ready for the third round to commence…
TALKING POINTS
Sunday’s televised 2.15pm kick-off at the former Pride Park – the iPro Stadium since December – is a 33,000 sell-out. Chelsea have a formidable record in this competition to defend and have not lost at this stage for 16 years. The 2007 FA Cup was the last trophy lifted by Jose Mourinho during his first spell at Stamford Bridge, a Drogba goal defeating Manchester United on the new Wembley’s debut as a cup final venue.
Rams head coach Steve McClaren has described this match as a ‘bonus’ and the mind-set may have changed following Wednesday’s 0-1 home defeat by mid-table Wigan Athletic (a side managed by Uwe Rosler, who steered Brentford to a fourth-round draw against the Blues in last season’s competition).
That New Year’s Day defeat dented the Rams’ genuine promotion aspirations and they slipped to fourth. No doubt the former England coach would rank the league higher in his priorities than a cup competition where success is likely to be more elusive.
KEY STAT |
The FA Cup will allow some less regular starters to show Mourinho what they are made of while others put their feet up after an intense four matches over 10 days in the Premier League.
A hat-trick of wins from Chelsea’s three games before the third round of this competition was last achieved back in 2005/06 when the Pensioners went on to secure a second consecutive title win under the Portuguese.
Following the highly impressive showing at Southampton Mourinho made a point of thanking his entire squad for their contribution over the festive period. His brilliantly effective double substitution worked, he said, partly because the hard work put in by Juan Mata and Andre Schurrle had fatigued the Saints for Oscar and Willian to run at and exploit space.
Fernando Torres’s instinctive opener was the first away league goal by a striker since his brace at Sunderland on 8 December 2012. Oscar’s strike was the Blues’ 12th in the last five away league trips.
Petr Cech has now matched Peter Bonetti’s record 208 clean sheets for the club and our biggest winning margin at Southampton in the league, set in September 1966, was also equalled.
Despite plying their trade one level below, Derby have been in fine form and will present a severe challenge on Sunday. Former Derby player McClaren was for a few months on Harry Redknapp’s coaching staff at QPR before accepting the role in the east Midlands in September.
Although he has tasted victory against Chelsea just once in 10 meetings, the Yorkshireman has caused the Londoners problems in the past with his tactical nous, as Mourinho will attest.
In February 2006 the team that would lift the Premier League a few weeks later was humbled 3-0 by McClaren’s Middlesbrough. The goalie that day was Mark Schwarzer, a likely starter for the Blues this weekend.
Derby have progressed from the third round of this competition every season but one of the last nine. The anomaly was in 2011 when they lost 1-2 away to Conference side Crawley Town.
The Wigan setback was their first loss since early November, a run of nine games, only their second under the former England manager’s tutelage and the first on home soil.
Their recent success has been founded in part on young loan signings such as defender Andre Wisdom from Liverpool, Manchester United’s Michael Keane, fellow centre-back Zak Whitbread of Leicester, and wide forward Simon Dawkins of Spurs.
The draw for the fourth round of the FA Cup takes place on Sunday prior to our tie kicking off, at around 2pm and will be broadcast on ITV 1. For the winner, the next round will take place over the weekend of 25/26 January.
CHELSEA STATS
Chelsea in the FA Cup
Winners: 1970, 1997, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012
Runners-up: 1915, 1967, 1994, 2002
Semi-finalists: 1911, 1920, 1932, 1950, 1952, 1965, 1966, 1996, 2006, 2013
Season | Round reached | Defeated by |
2003/04 | Fifth | Arsenal |
2004/05 | Fifth | Newcastle |
2005/06 | Semi-final | Liverpool |
2006/07 | Winners | |
2007/08 | Quarter-final | Barnsley |
2008/09 | Winners | |
2009/10 | Winners | |
2010/11 | Fourth | Everton (penalty shoot out) |
2011/12 | Winners | |
2012/13 | Semi-final | Man City |
Chelsea last lost a third-round tie in 1998 when Manchester United beat us 5-3 at Stamford Bridge. Since then our third round games have been:
1999 | Oldham Athletic (a) | W 2-0 |
2000 | Hull (a) | W 6-1 |
2001 | Peterborough (h) | W 5-0 |
2002 | Norwich (a) | D 0-0, (h) W 4-0 |
2003 | Middlesbrough (h) | W 1-0 |
2004 | Watford (a) | D 2-2, (h) W 4-0 |
2005 | Scunthorpe (h) | W 3-1 |
2006 | Huddersfield (h) | W 2-1 |
2007 | Macclesfield (h) | W 6-1 |
2008 | QPR (h) | W 1-0 |
2009 | Southend (h) | D 1-1 (a) W 4-1 |
2010 | Watford (h) | W 5-0 |
2011 | Ipswich (h) | W 7-0 |
2012 | Portsmouth (h) | W 4-0 |
2013 | Southampton (a) | W 5-1 |
Barnsley, in 2008, were the last team outside the Premier League to beat us in the FA Cup.
Frank Lampard is our all-time top scorer in the FA Cup with 26 goals.
Top FA Cup scorers
Lampard 26, Tambling 25, Bentley 21, Osgood 19, Drogba 12, Terry 11, Zola 11, Gudjohnsen 10, Houseman 10
Dec 14 | Crystal Palace (h) | W 2-1 |
Dec 17 | Sunderland (Capital One Cup a) | L 1-2 aet |
Dec 23 | Arsenal (a) | D 0-0 |
Dec 26 | Swansea (h) | W 1-0 |
Dec 29 | Liverpool (h) | W 2-1 |
Jan 1 | Southampton (a) | W 3-0 |
2012/13 scorers (57)
Hazard 10 (1 pen), Oscar 7, Torres 7, Lampard 6 (1 pen), Eto’o 5, Ramires 4, Ba 3, Schurrle 3, own goals 3, Terry 2, Willian 2, Azpilicueta 1, Cahill 1, Ivanovic 1, Mata 1, Mikel 1.
Sat 11 Jan | Hull away | 12.45pm |
Sun 19 Jan | Manchester United home | 4.00pm |
Wed 29 Jan | West Ham home | 7.45pm |
MILESTONES
After equalling Peter Bonetti’s 208 clean sheets at Southampton on New Year’s Day, Petr Cech now requires one clean sheet for the all-time club record.
If selected, John Mikel Obi will make his 300th appearance for the club and become only the fourth overseas player to reach that milestone. Petr Cech, Didier Drogba and Gianfranco Zola are the others.
Congratulations to Eden Hazard who celebrates his 23rd birthday on Tuesday.
DERBY STATS
Derby in the FA Cup
Winners: 1946
Runners-up: 1898, 1899, 1903
Semi-finalists: 1896, 1897, 1902, 1904, 1909, 1923, 1933, 1948, 1976
The Rams home defeat to Wigan on New Year’s Day was their first in 10 games having won eight and drawn one of their previous nine.
They are the Championship’s top scorers with 48 goals, six more than any other club.
Only Doncaster (19), Millwall (20) and Barnsley (23) have conceded more at home in the league than Derby’s 18.
They have not lost any of the 14 league games when they opened the scoring (11 wins, three draws).
Season | Round reached | Defeated by |
2003/04 | Third | Ipswich |
2004/05 | Fourth | Fulham |
2005/06 | Fourth | Colchester |
2006/07 | Fifth | Plymouth |
2007/08 | Fourth | Preston |
2008/09 | Fifth | Man Utd |
2009/10 | Fifth | Birmingham |
2010/11 | Third | Crawley |
2011/12 | Fourth | Stoke |
2012/13 | Fourth | Blackburn |
Manager Steve McClaren
Days in charge: 97
Played 15
Won 10
Drawn 3
Lost 2
Dec 7 | Blackpool (h) | W 5-1 |
Dec 14 | Charlton (a) | W 2-0 |
Dec 21 | Doncaster (h) | W 3-1 |
Dec 26 | Huddersfield (a) | D 1-1 |
Dec 29 | Barnsley (a) | W 2-1 |
Jan 1 | Wigan (h) | L 0-1 |
2012/13 scorers (55)
Martin 15 (3 pens), Bryson 11, Ward 7, Russell 5 (1 pen), Hughes 4, Sammon 4, Dawkins 3, Buxton 2, Bennett 1, Jacobs 1, Keogh 1, Whitbread 1.
Pld | Gd | Pts | ||
1 | Leicester | 24 | +16 | 51 |
2 | Burnley | 24 | +18 | 47 |
3 | QPR | 24 | +12 | 46 |
4 | Derby | 24 | +18 | 44 |
5 | Nottm Forest | 24 | +10 | 40 |
6 | Ipswich | 24 | +9 | 36 |
THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Andre Marriner referees Chelsea for the third time this season. His previous two were both at Stamford Bridge against Fulham and West Brom.
OTHERWISE ENGAGED
There are no suspensions.