09-01-2011 17:00 Leicester City - Manchester City

Hoping To Come Out On Top
Leicester will be hoping that they can pull off a shock when they face Manchester City at the Walkers Stadium on Sunday afternoon. City manager Roberto Mancini played five games for the Foxes at the end of his career in 2001, whilst their striker Darius Vassell had a short spell at City.

Foxes fans will be hoping that Vassell is on the score-sheet on Sunday - the former England international has scored 59 league goals during his career in England and Turkey and remarkably has never been on the losing side when he’s found the net.
Leicester have gone 24 games since their last 0-0 draw and won eight of the 17 games Eriksson has presided over. The former England manager is yet to lose a home game and will be hoping that run continues for Sunday's game.

Eriksson has never managed a team against his former side City and his last competitive match in charge at Eastlands was an 8-1 loss to Middlesbrough.

Hoping To Maintain Good Record
Manchester City will travel to Leicester in a confident mood as they are unbeaten in their last six visits at the Foxes' home - their last loss coming back in 1988.

Sunday's clash will be the 14th FA Cup meeting between the two sides - City have only faced Tottenham that many times in this competition. Roberto Mancini's men have also won the last five meetings of the two teams in the cup.

City fans will be buoyed by news that their side are unbeaten at the Walkers Stadium, recording a win and a draw in their only two fixtures at the relatively new ground.

History is on the away team's side, with City recording a 1-0 win when the two teams met in the 1969 FA Cup Final.

TEAM NEWSLeicester City

Leicester City have been handed good news after the club revealed on Friday that Tottenham loanee Kyle Naughton will be available for Sunday's clash with Manchester City.

The young defender was due to return to his parent club but the Foxes have extended his loan until the end of the season - meaning he can feature in the FA Cup this weekend.

Leicester will be without striker Roman Bednar and defender Curtis Davies who have returned to West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa, respectively, after their loan deals expired.

Possible Starting XI: Weale; Naughton, Hobbs, Morrison, Berner; Abe, Wellens, King; Dyer, Vassell, Gallagher.
Manchester City

Manchester City could welcome back Mario Balotelli for the FA Cup clash with Leicester after the Italian striker missed the 0-0 draw against Arsenal with a knee injury.

While Balotelli may return, midfielder David Silva will not feature, with Roberto Mancini hopeful that the Spaniard's knee injury will have healed in time for their next league fixture against Wolves.

City received some good news on Friday when the FA overturned the red card received by Pablo Zabaleta at the Emirates Stadium in midweek - meaning the Argentinian is eligible to face the Foxes on Sunday.

Possible Starting XI: Hart; Richards, Lescott, Kompany, Zabaleta; A. Johnson, Barry, De Jong, Y. Toure, Milner; Tevez.

Prediction

Leicester are strong at the Walkers Stadium and I expect their fans to get behind them and create an intimidating atmosphere for the highly-paid Manchester City stars on Sunday.

While Leicester will certainly take the fight to Mancini's men, assistant boss Brian Kidd has revealed that City will not make the same mistake as in the past and will field a strong eleven for the tie.

Players like Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez and Adam Johnson should have too much class for Leicester - but I expect the Championship side to put up a good fight.

Leicester 1-2 Man City

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09-01-2011 16:00 Chelsea - Ipswich Town

Same Cup, Different Campaigns

Last season will be rightly remembered as one of Chelsea's finest, when a maiden league title under Carlo Ancelotti was quickly followed by an FA Cup triumph over Portsmouth in the Wembley.

After victories over Stoke City in the quarter-final and Aston Villa in the semi-final, a goal from Didier Drogba after Kevin Prince Boateng missed a penalty was enough to seal victory for the Blues and secure a historic league and couple Double for Ancelotti.

For Ipswich on the other hand, the story was much different as their last cup campaign ended in the fourth round after Roy Keane's side were knocked out 2-1 by League One outfit Southampton.

Previous Meetings

The clubs last met in the FA Cup in January 2009, this time in the fourth round where a brace of goals from Michael Ballack and one from Frank Lampard were enough to secure victory for Chelsea over the Tractor Boys.

The Blues are on a nine-match unbeaten run against Ipswich, who last beat them in any competition in 1993, and at Stamford Bridge back 31 years ago. The home side also boast a 100% winning streak in the FA Cup against the Championship outfit, with wins in 1968, 1979 and 2009 -  all their victories coming at home.

TEAM NEWS

Chelsea

With manager Carlo Ancelotti under increasing pressure to turn things around for the champions after a poor run of results has sent his team tumbling out of the Champions League places, the Italian has other possible headaches leading into this cup tie.

The home team face an anxious wait over the fitness of key players Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien, who will all take late fitness tests after Cole and Essien picked up knocks in the defeat at Wolves and Drogba injured himself in training.

The FA Cup holders, playing their first game in defence of the trophy, are also without long-term absentees John Mikel Obi, Yuri Zhirkov and Yossi Benayoun, and are likely to field a mixture of first-team players and youngsters against the Championship outfit. That means Ancelotti may include young striker Daniel Sturridge, who scored five goals in a recent reserve team outing.

Possible Starting XI: Turnbull, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Terry, Bruma, McEachran, Lampard, Ramires, Sturridge, Anelka, Kalou.

Ipswich

The Tractor Boys go into this game managed by caretaker manager Ian McParland after the sacking of Roy Keane following a run of form which has seen Ipswich pick up just one win in nine games and tumble to 19th place, on the fringe of the Championship relegation zone.

McParland will also be without three key players for his first game in charge. Midfielder Jack Colback has been recalled by parent club Sunderland following his loan spell, striker Rory Fallon is cup-tied after playing for Plymouth in the cup earlier in the season, and midfielder Grant Leadbitter is suspended following his sending off against Nottingham Forest.

Despite receiving clearance to play in the Cup from his parent club, Tottenham midfielder Jake Livermore also misses out due to a groin injury, though McParland admitted on-loan defender Darren O'Dea is "90% certain" to receive permission to play from parent club Celtic.

Possible Starting XI: Fulop, Delaney, McAuley, Brown, O'Dea, Norris, Edwards, Kennedy, Peters, Wickham, Scotland.

Prediction

Given the perversity of the footballing fates, especially when a team have just sacked their manager and their opponents' boss is seemingly clinging on to his job by a thread, Stamford Bridge might just be the scene of a huge FA Cup upset on Sunday.

Yet even in their current form, with the Double champions unrecognisable from the side that started the season with such swagger, the head says Chelsea cannot stumble at home to struggling Ipswich.  It's true that the Tractor Boys, massive underdogs, have nothing to lose and everything to gain as they seek temporary rspite from their Championship travails.

But equally, beleaguered Chelsea will see this fixture as the perfect opportunity to regain their composure, re-establish their authority and rekindle their season. Ipswich, suddenly uninhibited and with points to prove to their caretaker boss, may pose the Blues problems, but expect quality to reassert itself and Chelsea to progress.

Chelsea 2-0 Ipswich

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09-01-2011 15:00 Catania - Inter

Killing The Italian Giant

Any other side would play for a draw when Italy's arguably strongest side Inter come to town but not Catania. The Sicilians are one of the meanest sides at home in the Italian first division and will head into their encounter against the Milanese club on a high.

Catania have lost just one game at the Stadio Angelo Massimino all season but a disastrous away record has placed them just six points above the relegation zone in 13th. The Sicilians are one of three sides in the table on 21 points and will attempt to pull ahead.

The Etnei, though, have started the new year on the back foot as they stuttered to a 4-2 defeat to Roma in Rome on Thursday.With the likes of Bari and Cesena suddenly picking up wins, Catania will be aiming to do the same against Inter on Sunday.

Behind Enemy Lines & Befriending The Enemies

To call Inter's 3-1 hammering of Napoli in Serie A on Thursday night a fairytale debut for coach Leonardo would be an understatement. A Milan man through and through, the 41-year-old has just one year of top-flight coaching experience and that was just last season, but things couldn't have started better for him.

Constructed on a 4-3-1-2 system, Thursday's victory saw Inter leap up to 26 points from 16 matches and stay seventh in the Serie A standings, still 13 points behind leaders and arch-rivals Milan, but the triumph was significant on a psychological level. The Nerazzurri players have embraced Leonardo as their coach as was evident in the way that they celebrated their goals with him and the fans too seem to have taken to the Brazilian.

Leonardo's predecessor, Rafael Benitez, failed to gain the support or respect of the players and lost the battle before he had even taken to the battlefield; Leonardo, on the other hand, has his players firmly behind him already, and not with daggers.

However, Inter should do well not to get carried away with the victory over a Napoli side who tend to struggle against the bigger teams as the Italian and European champions head to Sicily to confront Catania. Last season under Jose Mourinho the Beneamata suffered a humiliating 3-1 defeat in the corresponding fixture and given the Rossazzurri's strong record at home, Leonardo must be careful about his tactics and gameplan.



TEAM NEWS

Catania

Izco, Biagianti, Morimoto and Potenza are out injured for the Sicilians. Antenucci and Maxi Lopez will be the two strikers in a 4-4-2 system.

Inter

Sneijder, Coutinho, Samuel and Julio Cesar are still injured and will not make the trip to Sicily. Eto'o is back from suspension and will start alongside Milito in attack in a 4-3-1-2 formation.

Prediction

Catania have a formidable record at home and will aspire a victory over Inter. However, it is not going to be that simple and one suspects that the two sides will share the spoils.

Catania 1-1 Inter Milan

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09-01-2011 15:00 Chievo Verona - Palermo

Floating Around Aimlessly

At first glance it would seem that Chievo are comfortably stationed in a mid-table slot and have virtually nothing to play for for the rest of the season. With 21 points from 18 matches, the Flying Donkeys from Verona are 12th in the standings.

Nevertheless, with just six points separating them from third-from-bottom Brescia, Stefano Pioli's side cannot rest at ease especially as their form is dangerously bordering on the worrisome.

Chievo have failed to register a single win in their last five league encounters and have lost three of those matches. With their last win coming way back in late November, the Veronese club are in desperate need of maximum points.

On Thursday Chievo went down 2-0 to Udinese in Udine in their first match of the new year despite playing most of the game with a one-man numerical advantage. A win against Palermo on Sunday isn't likely to come with ease but a victory is what Chievo need to repair themselves.

Back In Full Throttle

Palermo had ended 2010 on a note of disappointment as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Bari and were also knocked out of the Europa League. However, the Sicilians are back with a bang as they suffocated Sampdoria 3-0 on Thursday to commence the new year on a high.

Before the match Samp commenced as the best defensive side in the division but their record was demolished, as Palermo climbed up to sixth in the league standings. At the moment Delio Rossi's side have 30 points from 18 points and are now just two points off a Champions League spot.

Palermo have a decent away form too as the Rosanero have collected three wins out of a possible eight in the league on the road. However, the Aquile have not won their last two away fixtures in Serie A and just one of their last five.



TEAM NEWS

Chievo

Luciano is injured for the Flying Donkeys, who will line up in a 4-3-1-2 formation that will have Constant deployed as the playmaker behind Moscardelli and Pellissier.

Palermo

Hernandez and Pinilla remain injured and Carrozzieri is suspended. Delio Rossi will field a 4-3-2-1 system that will have Ilicic and Palermo as the two creative minds behind Miccoli. 

Prediction

Palermo are on fire at the moment and will start the match against Chievo as favourites. However, Ceo are not easily conquered at home and it is likely that they will give it a fight.

Chievo 2-3 Palermo

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09-01-2011 15:00 Lazio - Lecce

Picking Up Pace

Lazio have persistently maintained that their objective is not to have a go at the Scudetto but to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League. Yet the Aquile would be kicking themselves for a disappointing and lacklustre start to the 2010-11 campaign as they were held to a goalless draw in Genoa on Thursday.

With 34 points from 18 league matches, Lazio are five points behind leaders Milan in second and still have a good chance of overhauling that deficit and conquering Italy for the first time since 2000.

However, for them to realise those lofty dreams the Biancocelesti would have to make sure that they do not drop points at home and will need to register a victory against Lecce on Sunday.

Edy Reja's side will be encouraged to muster maximum points in Week 19 given their brilliant home form. Lazio have picked up 20 points out of a possible 27 at the Stadio Olimpico and have won three of their last four league encounters.

Suffocating In The Top Flight

Lecce were engaged in a relegation six-pointer against Bari at home on Thursday and failed to get anything. Their 1-0 loss was also Bari's first victory on the road in the league this campaign while it forced the Giallorossi to commence the new year on a disappointing note.

Having managed just 15 points from 18 matches, Lecce are second from bottom in the league standings and are three points from safety. Their home loss to Bari was their second successive in the league as before the Christmas period Luigi De Canio's side had gone down to Napoli in Naples.

Lecce have the worst away form in Serie A as they have collected just a single point in nine attempts on the road. The Lupi have lost all of their last six away games in the league and are defensively the weakest side in the division, having shipped in no fewer than 35 goals.



TEAM NEWS

Lazio

Meghni, Garrido and Matuzalem are injured and will miss the visit of Lecce. Dias is suspended. Edy Reja will deploy a 4-2-3-1 formation that will have Floccari as the lone striker upfront with Zarate, Hernanes and Mauri as the three creative midfielders behind him.

Lecce

Giuliatto, Di Michele, Ferrario and Olivera are injured and miss the trip to Rome. Giacomazzi is suspended. Ofere will be the targetman in a 4-3-2-1 system that will have Jeda and Piatti as the two creative midfielders.

Prediction

Lazio have a strong record at home and they are likely to garner maximum points against Lecce on Sunday.

Lazio 2-0 Lecce

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