#7-Chelsea set-up Red Devils Meeting

After last night, we now have the full quarter-final line-up for the FA Cup as eight teams battle it out for a place at Wembley. One tie that is specifically eye-catching is Chelsea's visit to Old Trafford. The Blues' 5th round game Middlesbrough is the focus of this post aswell as the other FA Cup game played this week, Everton vs Oldham. I will also preview this weekend's full fixture list of Premier League games, including a non doubt feisty North London derby.

Middlesbrough and Chelsea faced off at the Riverside for the last place in the FA Cup quarter-finals. The Blues were of course the favourites, but no-one was writing Middlesbrough off as Chelsea weren't in the best of form. The tie was still completely open after a goaless first half in which Oscar and Scott McDonald came close for each side. The deadlock was eventually broken though on 51 minutes, Ramires giving Chelsea the lead after the Brazilian's 25 yard effort flew past Steele via a Torres deflection. 22 minutes later, after some grear play by Eden Hazard, Victor Moses was left with a tap in that only the club's no.9 could miss. The goal all but sealed the Yorkshire club's fait and Chelsea were through fairly comfortably. The win set up an enticing visit to Manchester United, a club which they haven't had the best results against lately...

Last 5 games

• Chelsea 5-4 Manchester United (aet) - 31/10/12
• Chelsea 2-3 Manchester United - 28/10/12
• Chelsea 3-3 Manchester United - 05/02/12
• Manchester United 3-1 Chelsea - 18/19/11
• Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea - 08/05/11

But who will come out on top in their first meeting of the year?

24 hours earlier, Everton overcame Oldham in their FA Cup Replay at Goodison Park. The Latics' hero in the first game Matt Smith, surprisingly started on the bench and the League 1 side looked uninspired. Kevin Mirallas got on the end of a superb Darron Gibson cross to put Everton ahead in the 15th minute and Leighton Baines scored a penalty to make it 2-0 at half-time. Oldham had chances to equaliser beforehand when former Everton youngster Jose Baxter struck the post snd the visitors had their own penalty claim turned down when the ball supposedly hit Gibson's arm in the area. Matt Smith came on 10 minutes after the break and his impact showed straight away as Oldham, looked noticebly better. However Leon Osman scored against the run of play to make it 3-0 in the 62nd minute, putting the result in no doubt. Just two minutes later though, the lead was back to two, substitute Smith scoring his 4th of the competition. But 3-1 was how it stayed until the final whistle, meaning Everton will host Wigan for a place at Wembley.

Premier League preview

• Chelsea host West Brom in an attempt to gain back 3rd place. Interestingly, Robert di Matteo's and Andre Villas-Boas' last league games in charge of Chelsea were against the Baggies. Will Benitez be next? I predict: Chelsea 3-1 West Brom
• Reading got their first win of the season against Everton back in November and after being thrashed by Wigan last weekend, they'll hope that they can recover by beating the Toffees again. I predict: Reading 1-2 Everton
• Everton were beaten in the last minute by Norwich last week and the Canaries will want to beat another side above them, Manchester United. It will probably be a tougher test but can the Norfolk's side resilience see them through? I predict: Manchester United 4-1 Norwich
• QPR have a great chance of getting something against Southampton, who are slowly slipping into the relegation battle. Harry Redknapp persists QPR still have a chance of survival, but defeat on Saturday may lead him to change his views. I predict: Southampton 2-2 QPR
• Stoke will be without Robert Huth when they host West Ham. The German defender has been banned for violent conduct and the Potter's defence will look shaky without him. Just 3 points seperate the two sides. I predict: Stoke 1-0 West Ham
• Two sides expected to finish around mid-table, Sunderland and Fulham play each other to try and get 3 points to help their top 10 push. I predict: Sunderland 1-1 Fulham
• Fresh from winning the Capital One Cup on Sunday, Swansea return their attention to the league where they host Newcastle, 7 points below them. The Magpies, looking for 3 more points to push them further away from the dropzone. Swansea 3-3 Newcastle
• Wigan also want to move further from the bottom 3 after last wek's thrashing of Reading. The Latics play host to Liverpool, who didn't play last week but 2 weeks ago completed a thrashing of their own, beating Swansea 5-0. I predict: Wigan 0-2
• In the battle for 4th place, deadly rivals Tottenham and Arsenal face off in the North London derby that always throws up fireworks. Spurs sit in 3rd with 51 points and Arsenal in 5th with 47. It couldn't be much closer.
• In this week's Monday night fixture, Man City, fresh from beating Chelsea 2-0, visit Villa Park to play an Aston Villa side back in the bottom three after last week's loss to Arsenal. You don't get a much tougher pair of fixtures. I predict: Aston Villa 0-4 Manchester City

Next week it's some of the Champions League second-leg fixtures including Manchester United vs Real Madrid at Old Trafford. As always I will review the weekend's games which no doubt will produce some incredible moments.

Olly Allen
Follow me on twitter: OllyAllen1998