Chelsea FC have reached the FA Cup title game in two of the last three seasons. The competition resumes this weekend with fourth round play, where the Blues will travel to Hull City. Although they’ll be taking on a smaller club, it’ll be very atmospheric as the venue is sold out.
The west London club will almost certainly be without the services of Tammy Abraham, who suffered an ankle injury in Tuesday night’s draw with Arsenal. Manager Frank Lampard will likely give an update on his situation at his new conference tomorrow. Also out of commission for this one are Reece James, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic. The 21-year-old American winger should return likely return Feb. 17 against Manchester United.
Go here for more on that. Flipping over to the Tigers team news for this clash, Kevin Stewart, Jon Toral and Norbert Balogh all remain out while Stephen Kingsley, Jordy de Wijs and Kamil Grosicki could all be fit enough to feature in this one.
Chelsea FC at Hull City FA Cup 4th Round FYIs
January 25, 5:30pm, KCOM Stadium
TV: BT Sport 1, Referee: Craig Pawson
Chelsea starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Key stats/facts: Hull are winless (D3, L7) in their last ten FA Cup meetings against Chelsea. Across all competitions, they are winless in their last 15 (D2, L13) of this series.
Odds via Sports Bet: Chelsea FC win 1.45, Draw 4.5, Hull City win 6.5
Prediction: Chelsea 3, Hull City 1
History is not on the Tigers side in this one.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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