Mourinho gets bittersweet FA Cup birthday present
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, January 28, 2014
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Chelsea progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup with a comfortable 1-0 victory against Stoke on Jose Mourinho’s birthday. |
Jose Mourinho got something of a bittersweet birthday present when his Chelsea side beat Stoke City 1-0 in the FA Cup fourth round at Stamford Bridge on Sunday — and was then drawn to play at Manchester City.
In fact, the top four teams in the English Premier League will face one another after Arsenal was also drawn to play Liverpool in the fifth round.
Holder Wigan Athletic, which scored a major upset when it was relegated and beat City in last year's final, will travel to Cardiff City, which was promoted to the Premier League at the end of last season.
Everton, whose manager Roberto Martinez left Wigan after taking it to FA Cup glory against City, will face his old club Swansea City in one of four all-Premier League ties. The other match between top-flight sides pits Capital One Cup finalist Sunderland against Southampton at the Stadium of Light.
Sheffield Wednesday will meet Charlton Athletic in an all-Championship tie and Premier League Hull City travels to Brighton of the Championship.
The winners of the replay between Sheffield United and Fulham will face Nottingham Forest or Preston North End who are also involved in a fourth-round replay.
The standout games are those between City and Chelsea — who met in the semifinal at Wembley last season when City won 2-1 — and Arsenal and Liverpool.
League leader Arsenal, chasing its first silverware since winning the FA Cup in 2005, is unbeaten against Liverpool in their last four meetings and notched up a 2-0 home win over the Merseyside club, which has won the trophy seven times, in November. The matches will be played on February 15/16.
Chelsea, which has won the FA Cup four times in the last seven seasons, was made to sweat for its place in the last 16 and should have won by a bigger margin after spurning a host of chances. But shortly after completing a deserved win, Mourinho's side was handed the task of beating quadruple-chasing City, which has scored 110 goals this season and won all 11 home league matches.
Asked for his reaction to the draw, Mourinho, who was celebrating his 51st birthday, told ITV Sport: "No problem. If you want to be the best then you have to play the best, so it's good for us.
"One team is the end product. One team needs to improve and has a long way to go."
Chelsea, which lost 2-3 at Stoke last month, was far too strong for the visitors and deservedly went ahead after 28 minutes with Oscar's stunning free kick which flew over the wall and high and wide of diving Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic.
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