My father told me that you should never change your mind when it comes to football. If you are taking a penalty, decide what you are about to do and stick with it. If you are taking a corner, decide if you are going near post or far post before you get anywhere near the corner flag. If you are captain, choose heads or tails minutes before you shake hands with the opposing captain. All these things served me well in my playing days. 'Little gains', Dad dubbed them. Last week, I chose five potential predictions, as I often do, narrowed it down to three and then hesitated. Man City 0 Liverpool 2 seemed too obvious. Maybe Pep would rally his troops against the Champions-elect or it would be a silly scoreline like 3-5. And then, I knew Millwall would win 1-0 at Derby. But I changed my mind and switched these two predictions to ones that went wrong. When the Millwall score was still 0-0 in stoppage time, I felt a little smug about my decision. Then, Josh Coburn scored five minutes into additional time, and Millwall won 1-0. There were even one or two muted shouts of delight from some Prediction Leaguers, I fancy. For me, it was a bad start to the day in prediction terms, although Charlton made light work of their Devonian opponents to save the day. But who listened to their father all those years ago? Not me. As usual, pick your favoured three predictions and take my father's advice by sticking with your first three selections. I can see myself swithering even more this week, if I'm honest. Good luck, especially to those competing in the quarter-finals of the three Prediction Cups.
If you missed last week's results, Cup replay results, or Cup draws for this weekend's quarter-finals, you can find them
here.
FA Cup 5th Round
Crystal Palace v Millwall (Saturday 1215)
AFC Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers (Saturday 1500)
Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion (Sunday 1345)
Manchester United v Fulham (Sunday 1630)
Championship
Sheffield Wednesday v Sunderland (Friday 2000)
Blackburn Rovers v Norwich City (Saturday 1230)
Oxford United v Coventry City (Saturday 1230)
Luton Town v Portsmouth (Saturday 1500)
Queens Park Rangers v Sheffield United (Saturday 1500)
Stoke City v Watford (Saturday 1500)
League One
Birmingham City v Wycombe Wanderers (Saturday 1230)
Wrexham v Bolton Wanderers (Saturday 1230)
Barnsley v Lincoln City (Saturday 1500)
Bristol Rovers v Rotherham United (Saturday 1500)
Burton Albion v Mansfield Town (Saturday 1500)
Exeter City v Northampton Town (Saturday 1500)
Leyton Orient v Charlton Athletic (Saturday 1500)
Stevenage v Huddersfield Town (Saturday 1500)
Stockport County v Blackpool (Saturday 1500)
Wigan Athletic v Reading (Saturday 1500)
Guest fixtures
Napoli v Inter Milan (Italian Serie A Saturday 1700)
Hibernian v Hearts (Scottish Premiership Sunday 1230)
Comments
Birmingham City v Wycombe Wanderers 2-0
Wrexham v Bolton Wanderers 2-0
Oxford v Coventry 1-2
Burton Albion v Mansfield Town 2-1
Stevenage v Huddersfield 0-1
Stockport County v Blackpool 2-1
Sheffield Wednesday v Sunderland 0-1
Birmingham City v Wycombe Wanderers 2-0
QPR v sheff utd 0-1
Blackburn v Norwich 2-1
Stockport v Blackpool 1-1
Birmingham v Wycombe 2-1
Queens Park Rangers 0-2 Sheffield United
Napoli 1-2 Inter Milan
Birmingham City v Wycombe Wanderers (Saturday 1230) 2-0
Barnsley v Lincoln City (Saturday 1500) 2-0
Manchester United v Fulham 2-1
Leyton Orient v Charlton Athletic 0-0
Birmingham v Wycombe 2-0
Wrexham v Bolton 2-1
Manchester United v Fulham 1 - 1
Queens Park Rangers v Sheffield United 1 - 2
Burton Albion v Mansfield Town 1-1
Stockport County v Blackpool 1-0
Queens Park Rangers v Sheffield United 0-1
Birmingham City v Wycombe Wanderers 1-0
Burton Albion v Mansfield Town 2-1
Luton Town v Portsmouth 0-1
Queens Park Rangers v Sheffield United 0-2
Wrexham v Bolton Wanderers 2-1
Barnsley v Lincoln City 2-1
Leyton Orient v Charlton Athletic 1-2
Stockport v Blackpool 2-1
Wigan v Reading 2-1
Bristol Rovers v Rotherham United 0-1
Exeter City v Northampton Town 2-1
Birmingham v Wycombe 2-1
Leyton Orient v Charlton. 1-1
Leyton Orient 0-1 Charlton (Saturday 1500)
Stoke City 1 v 3 Watford (Saturday 1500)
Wrexham v Bolton Wanderers 1-1
Barnsley v Lincoln City 1-0
Birmingham v Wycombe 2-0
Oxford v Coventry 1-3
Birmingham City v Wycombe Wanderers 2-1
Burton Albion v Mansfield Town 2-1
Leyton Orient 1-3 Charlton Athletic
Napoli 1-3 Inter Milan
Luton Town v Portsmouth 1-1
Stockport County v Blackpool 1-1
palace v millwall 2-1
Sheffield Wednesday v Sunderland 1-1
0xford v Coventry 1-2
Stevenage v Huddersfield 1-0
Birmingham Wycombe 2-0
Orient Charlton 0-1
Birmingham City v Wycombe Wanderers 2-0
Queens Park Rangers v Sheffield United 0-1
Palace 2 Millwall 0
Birmingham 2 Wycombe 1