Key events
Speaking ahead of the match, Leeds manager Daniel Farke said: “Each and every game is a chance to shine. For every player, this is a chance to make a good impression and be back in the good books and to have chances to be involved in each of the upcoming games.
“It is a club with lots of potential and they are ambitious. But the Championship is tough; many teams are ambitious. They have good momentum at the moment, you have to say really good performances. I like their group of players, quality. They are just one point out of the playoffs and are on a good run of form.
“It is a tough place to go because they will focus on this game against a Premier League side. I expect a full packed stadium, good atmosphere. It will be difficult for us and we have to be at our very best.
“The league, to achieve survival, has priority. But we want to go into the next round and see how far we can go. I am a big believer in cup competitions.”
The biggest shock of the weekend so far came when Mansfield Town knocked out Burnley with a 2-1 win at Turf Moor yesterday. Louis Reed scored the decisive goal in the 80th minute to send the Stags through to the fifth round.
Yesterday’s FA Cup results
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Burton Albion 0-1 West Ham
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Norwich City 3-1 West Brom
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Southampton 2-1 Leicester City
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Burnley 1-2 Mansfield Town
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Manchester City 2-0 Salford City
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Aston Villa 1-3 Newcastle
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Liverpool 3-0 Brighton
Birmingham announced earlier this week that club chairman Tom Wagner is recovering from a stroke. The 56-year-old has therefore stepped back from his duties at St Andrew’s for the foreseeable future.
Blues manager Chris Davies shared his support for Wagner during his pre-match press conference and insisted the team will do their best to get the win for him against Leeds today. He said: “We were shocked and very concerned to hear the news. Tom’s the driving force behind Knighthead and has obviously been a big part of it since I’ve been here.
“He’s someone I respect greatly and think a lot of. I said to the players that he’s pretty much brought every single player that’s here to the club as well. First thoughts go to him and his family in a very difficult situation because the football side pales into insignificance when you think of health and everything else.
“What I would say is that every update I’ve got is that he’s recovering very well and is very positive. He received quick treatment, which is critical in those situations and he’s improving. I know the people at Knighthead really well, I know Andrew Shanahan will be here for the game, Ara Cohen who is the co-founder will also be here. They have been very quick to get together and show that solidarity and I know we’ll do that as a club.”
Players will have TW13 on their shirts today as a way of showing support.
Team news
Birmingham City starting line-up: Ryan Allsop; Bright Osayi-Samuel, Christoph Klarer (C), Jonathan Panzo, Kai Wagner; Tommy Doyle, John Solis, Carlos Vicente; Jay Stansfield, Demarai Gray, August Priske.
Subs: James Beadle, Brad Mayo, Billy Burrell, Phil Neumann, Zaid Betteka, Patrick Roberts, Kanya Fujimoto, Ibrahim Osman, Marvin Ducksch.
Leeds United starting line-up: Lucas Perri; James Justin, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Jaka Bijol, Sebastiaan Bornauw; Sean Longstaff, Ao Tanaka, Facundo Buonanotte; Wilfried Gnonto, Noah Okafor, Lukas Nmecha.
Subs: Karl Darlow, Jayden Bogle, Sam Byram, Joe Rodon, Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev, Brenden Aaronson, Joël Piroe, Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to coverage of the FA Cup fourth-round match between Birmingham City and Leeds United. It’s 10th in the Championship versus 15th in the Premier League today as Birmingham target an upset.
The hosts last made it to the fifth round in the 2019-20 season, where they lost to Leicester City after beating Coventry City on penalties. Meanwhile, Leeds made it to the next stage of the competition just two years ago by defeating Plymouth Argyle in a replay. They then went on to lose out to Chelsea.
Both teams will fancy themselves to win this one, so we should be in for a treat.
Kick-off is at 12pm GMT – join me!
