Chelsea aim to maintain their perfect FA Cup record against Hull City

Chelsea head to MKM Stadium as manager Liam Rosenior faces his former club Hull City in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday night.

Hull City suffered a 3-2 home defeat to Bristol City in their last outing in the Championship.

Sergej Jakirovic’s side reached this round by overcoming Blackburn Rovers in a home tie, with the match ending goalless and the Tigers being successful in the penalty shootout.

Chelsea let go of a two-goal lead at home to draw 2-2 with Leeds United in the Premier League on Saturday.

Liam Rosenior guided the West Londoners to a 5-1 riot at Charlton Athletic in his first game in charge of the Blues in the third round of the competition.

Match preview

Hull City have won one of their last 35 games against Chelsea in all competitions (D8 L26), a 3-0 win in October 1988 under Eddie Grey. They have lost their last eight games against the Blues.

Chelsea have progressed from all eight of their FA Cup ties against Hull City – it’s the joint best 100% progress rate by a team against another in FA Cup history, along with Leicester City against Birmingham City.

Hull are looking to reach the FA Cup fifth round for the first time since 2017/18. However, the Tigers have been eliminated in their last 16 ties against top-flight teams while playing outside the top flight themselves, since a 1-0 win against West Ham in 1972/73.

The Blues have progressed from 62 of their last 64 FA Cup ties against sides from outside the Premier League, although both defeats in this run have been against Yorkshire teams: 1-0 vs Barnsley in 2007/08 and 4-2 vs Bradford City in 2014/15.

Chelsea have lost just three of their last 28 fourth-round ties, including last year’s 2-1 loss at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Enzo Fernández has been involved in five goals in seven FA Cup appearances for Chelsea (3 goals, 2 assists), while he has four goals and two assists in eight domestic cup appearances against sides from a lower division.

Team news

Hull City

Semi Ajayi, Mohamed Belloumi, Cody Drameh, Dario Gyabi, Matts Crooks and Eliot Matazo are sidelined with injuries.

Chelsea

Marc Cucurella was substituted with hamstring concerns at the interval against Leeds, and he’s unavailable.

He joins Tosin Adarabioyo, Levi Colwill, Dario Essugo, Romeo Lavia and Jamie Gittens in the visitors’ infirmary, while Reece James and Filip Jorgensen will be assessed ahead of kickoff.

Predicted line-ups

Hull City: Pandur, McNair, Egan, Hughes, Coyle, Slater, Lundstram, Giles, Gelhardt, Joseph, McBurnie.

Chelsea: Sanchez, Acheampong, Fofana, Badiashile, Hato, Caicedo, Santos, Neto, Estevao, Garnacho, Delap.