2021 winners Leicester continue their FA Cup campaign with a fifth-round encounter at home to Championship play-off challengers Blackburn.
It's been a thoroughly disappointing season in the Premier League for Brendan Rodgers' side, who find themselves on the periphery of the relegation scrap, and their seriously inconsistent form makes this encounter an even bigger banana skin than it might have been already. The Foxes have hardly been convincing in the FA Cup this term, either, scraping past League Two Gillingham and Walsall 1-0 in the third and fourth rounds respectively.
All of that coupled with Blackburn's strong recent showings makes for a tantalising tie in the East Midlands. Under Jon Dahl Tomasson, Rovers are on course for their first second-tier play-off finish since relegation from the top flight 11 years ago. The Lancashire side have knocked out two fellow Championship teams in Norwich and Birmingham (after a replay) so far, making it through to the fifth round for the first time since 2017.
Leicester remain without Jonny Evans and Ryan Bertrand, while James Justin is out for the season. The hosts could also be missing star man James Maddison through illness.
The injures have piled up lately for Blackburn, who are missing first-choice goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski – in addition to regular centre-backs Daniel Ayala and Scott Wharton, and key attacking midfielder Bradley Dack. Wharton's brother, defensive midfielder Adam, is also sidelined, along with another youngster, on-loan Stuttgart centre-half Clinton Mola.
Form
Leicester lie 14th in the Premier League and just three points above the bottom three, but successive wins over Aston Villa and Tottenham this month – in both of which they scored four goals – suggest that they might be beginning to turn a corner. They come into this game off the back of consecutive defeats to nil, but they were at the hands of third-placed Manchester United and leaders Arsenal.
Blackburn, meanwhile, have gone nine unbeaten in all competitions and won 3-1 away to QPR on Saturday for their third straight league win, keeping them fourth in the incredibly tight Championship play-off race. Curiously, though, Rovers had drawn their previous six matches in 90 minutes – having previously recorded just one draw all season.
Referee
Tim Robinson will be the referee for Leicester City vs Blackburn Rovers.
Stadium
Leicester City vs Blackburn Rovers will be played at the 32,261-capacity King Power Stadium in Leicester.
Kick-off and channel
Brighton & Hove Albion vs Liverpool kick-off is at 7:30pm GMT on Tuesday 28 February in the UK. The game is being shown on the BBC Red Button, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.
In the US, kick-off time is 2:30pm ET / 11:30am PT. The match will be shown onESPN+ in the US. See below for international broadcast options.
VPN guide
Use a VPN to watch FA Cup football from outside your country
If you’re out of the country for an FA Cup tie, then you won't be able to watch on your domestic streaming service as usual. The broadcaster knows where you are because of your IP address (boo!) and blocks you from watching it. You can use a VPN to get around that, though, without resorting to illegal feeds you’ve found on Reddit.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN), assuming it complies with your broadcaster’s T&Cs, creates a private connection between your device and t'internet, meaning the service can’t work out where you are and will let you watch. And all the info going between is entirely encrypted, anonymous and safe – and that's a result.
There are plenty of good-value options out there.For the FA Cup, FourFourTwo currently recommends:
ExpressVPN including a 30-day, money-back guarantee FourFourTwo’s brainy office mates TechRadar love its super speedy connections, trustworthy security and the fact it works with Android, Apple, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, PS5 and loads more. You also get a money-back guarantee, 24/7 support and it's currently available for a knockdown price. Go get it!
(Image credit: Future)
International FA Cup TV rights
• UK: In the UK, FA Cup rights are shared between the two main terrestrial broadcasters, the BBC and ITV.
• USA:ESPN+ is the home of the FA Cup in the States.
• Canada: In Canada, Sportsnet NOW is the place to catch the FA Cup action.
• Australia: Paramount+ is where you can watch FA Cup matches in Australia.
• New Zealand: In New Zealand, Sky Sport have the rights to the FA Cup.
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Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...
