Having kissed goodbye to their English Premiership title hopes, Manchester City can also find the going tough when they play Leeds United in the FA Cup fifth round tomorrow.
Leeds are chasing a berth in the Championship play-offs and Neil Warnock’s team are in this stage of the KO competition for the first time since 2003.
On that occasion, Terry Venables was manager and Leeds reached the quarter-finals before being beaten by Sheffield United.
Leeds also reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup this season, beating Southampton and Everton before losing 5-1 to Chelsea.
At City, regulars Joe Hart, Gareth Barry, Samir Nasri and Edin Dzeko could all lose their place in the starting line-up even though the FA Cup is now City’s only route to the honours after falling behind Manchester United in the league standings and getting knocked out from Europe.
This will be the sixth meeting between the Citizens and Leeds in the FA Cup – 2010: City-Leeds 2-5 (fourth round); 1978: Leeds-City 1-2 (third round); 1977: Leeds-City 1-0 (fifth round); 1967: Leeds-City 1-0 (quarter-final); and 1928: City-Leeds 1-0 (third round).
Manchester United, who registered a significant 1-1 draw away at Real Madrid in the Champions League last 16 this week, entertain fellow Premier League side Reading at Old Trafford next Monday.
At the start of December, United beat Reading by the odd goal in seven in a league match at the Madejski Stadium. In scoring for United during the 2-0 victory over Everton, Ryan Giggs continued his record of having scored in each of the last 23 seasons.
A Lancashire derby in this round of the FA Cup involves Oldham, of League One, and Everton.
Oldham are struggling to avoid the drop but they come to this match boosted by their impressive home win over Liverpool in the previous round.
Arsenal have high hopes of a place in the last eight as they tackle Championship side Blackburn at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon while Chelsea will try their luck in the FA Cup as they play Brentford in a fourth round replay at Stamford Bridge.
Non-Leaguers Luton Town take on Millwall at home in today’s early kick-off.
Luton were losing FA Cup semi-finalists as recently as 1994 as Millwall have also been on the positive side, collecting the scalp of Aston Villa with a 2-1 win at the New Den in the previous round.
Fixtures and forecast
Fa Cup Fifth Round
Arsenal-Blackburn 1
Luton-Millwall (13:45) 2
Mk Dons-Barnsley 1
Oldham-Everton (19:00) 2
Tomorrow:
Man. City-Leeds (15:00) X
Huddersfield-Wigan (16:55) X
Monday:
Man. Utd-Reading (21:00) 1
Fourth Round Replay
Chelsea-Brentford (13:00) 1
Premier League
Playing Tomorrow (16.00)
Liverpool-Swansea 1
The Championship
Birmingham-Watford X
Burnley-Huddersfield 1
Cardiff-Bristol City (14:00) 1
C. Palace-Middlesbrough 1
Derby-Wolves 1
Hull City-Charlton 1
Ipswich-Blackpool X
Nottm Forest-Bolton 1
League One
Bury-Coventry City X
Hartlepool-Leyton Orient X
Portsmouth-Carlisle 2
Preston-Bournemouth X
Sheffield Utd-Colchester 1
Walsall-Notts County X
Yeovil-Scunthorpe 1
League Two
Afc Wimbledon-Bradford X
Bristol Rovers-Wycombe 1
Cheltenham-Aldershot 1
Fleetwood-Burton 1
Gillingham-Dagenham 1
Plymouth-Oxford United X
Port Vale-Morecambe 1
Rochdale-Torquay X
Rotherham-Chesterfield 1
Southend-Northampton 1
ork City-Barnet 1
Hot Four
Cardiff City, Hull, Sheffield Utd, Port Vale.