Chelsea return to FA Cup action on Saturday as they make the trip north to Middlesbrough with the aim of booking a place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Thomas Tuchel will be looking for his side to go one better than the past two seasons, where they finished runners up both times at Wembley.
Standing in the German coach ’s way is Chris Wilder and his side that have caused more than their fair share of problems for sides in this competition so far. Boro managed to beat Mansfield in the third round to set up a tie with Manchester United at Old Trafford.
They managed to force extra-time and later penalties, where they won 8-7 to progress to the next round. If that wasn’t enough to satisfy the Championship club, another giant killing was in the offing as they faced Tottenham.
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The game remained goalless, forcing extra-time once again. That is where they struck, with substitute Josh Coburn finding a bit of magic in the 107th minute to put the side 1-0 up and through to the final eight.
Now, as Chelsea gear up to face Middlesbrough, they must learn from a key mistake that their two adversaries made across both games. That being, the taking of their chances.
Manchester United had plenty of chances to win the game in normal time before Matt Crooks’ equaliser, with the Red Devils having 30 shots and nine on target over the whole game. Their xG tallied to 2.88, according to footystats, while Middlesbrough’s amounted to 0.87.
It suggests that on the night, Ralf Rangnick’s men should have scored two more goals than their Championship opposition, but instead had to play extra-time and penalties.
While Tottenham were far less convincing in their tie with Boro, a similar story can be taken from the match. Spurs managed 15 shots to Middlesbrough’s 16, with an xG of 1.19 to 1.30, per footystats. There’s little difference between the two, with Middlesbrough just taking the chance that fell their way when Antonio Conte’s men couldn’t.
For Chelsea, they will have to take the chances that they create during the game to give the home side little chance to respond. This is something that, on the whole, has worked for them in the Premier League.
The Blues have an xG of 46.7 in the league so far, per FBRef, but have scored nearly ten more goals with 56 so far. It shows they can take their chances, though they create far fewer than leaders Manchester City and Liverpool.
Kai Havertz and Romelu Lukaku currently lead the way for goals across all competitions this season, scoring 11 each. If either starts, they will have to be in fine form to silence the Riverside crowd, who will surely be in fine voice.
