There are no Premier League matches this weekend – but you are not ashamed if you have not even realized.
It has hardly been a bumper year for the so -called largest competition in the world.
Liverpool has quickly led the title race and Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton in relegation since August.
So who would have thought that the two cup races would be left to prevent the entire nation from switching off completely and to do a little less boring instead?
The cups are bullied and bullied to make way for the expansion of European competition.
Klagged with second legs and repetitions demolished to illuminate the heavy legs of players who are grinding to meet the requirements of clubs that look beyond two relatively small trophies that offer a few pounds in prize money.
Newcastle's victory over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final this month was a spectacular bloody nose for the Big Six.
It is five down and one to go in the FA Cup, which means that “small” Bournemouth has the opportunity to complete the track.
Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham all have a surprise weekend free when we reach the quarter-final stage.
Everyone with a shred of romance, spirit and sport fun should be willing to be the cherries against Manchester City. If not, you should never again have a test “I am not a robot”.
A winner from Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Brighton, Fulham, Crystal Palace of Preston North End is a rarity.
And not since 2013, both domestic trophies have been won by teams from outside the “elite” in the same season. Then Swansea won the League Cup and Wigan defeated City in the FA Cup final. Before that it was 1988 with Luton and Wimbledon.
In between, they are the same old names and the same old final. Before this year, the previous nine Carabao Cups were shared between Liverpool and the Manchester Clubs.
Just one year, Leicester broke the FA Cup strangulation of Arsenal, City, Chelsea, United and Liverpool that has been around since 2014.
What we see now is the equivalent of football from Halley's comet that enters our solar system.
Come on May, ruin your eyes and you can perhaps visualize the glowing tail of glory for a team that does not treat Wembley as a second home.
The cherries have never won a large trophy, neither Palace, nor Fulham, nor Brighton.
Preston, synonymous with the big Sir Tom Finney, has had big stars, but no significant silverware since the 1938 FA Cup.
Tradition
Villa and Forest shake up the establishment in the competition, but you have to rewind to the 1990s to either find a cup of note.
What it will mean for the supporters of these seven clubs to reach the FA Cup-Halve Final or to fire outside the imagination.
And it serves as a beacon of hope for anyone who wants to save a crumb in an everyday season in the competition. Players love the cups, the fans love them.
Those present during this year's Carabao Cup were 20 percent higher last year and their highest for almost a quarter of a century.
If Bournemouth defeated City on Sunday, it is a huge shot for the many malignant cups, for fans and for fun. So what if it is bad for things and for the big boys?
Fans finished with Todd
Todd Boehly feels the heat of Chelsea fans about his 41 percent interest in US Ticket Resal Outlet Vlieke Seats.
To the extent, the trust of the supporters has written to the Premier League, who demands that they investigate their club president about a potential conflict of interest. Reasonable.
No trip to Stamford Bridge is complete without the view and the sound of various shady characters hanging around by Fulham Broadway Tube Station with tickets for the upcoming game at bloated prices.
So much so that the London club mailed fans last week to trumpet their actions that focus on this criminal scourge.
They claim that they have stopped more than 1,000 people who come in with Dodgy Tickets, more than 1500 memberships canceled coupled to Dodgy Tickets and dozens of people arrested via MatchDay operations.
In the meantime, Boehly, the man at the top of the club, repeats a “unauthorized” ticket website through his investment in what the Premier League label.
They urge fans to “practice extreme caution” when dealing with companies like lively seats.
It is almost as if it is one rule for one for each other. In football? Certainly not?
A bore is not a draw
Everything about the recent two games of England was very interesting – apart from the two games. Thomas Tuchel, Dan Burn, the structure, the team selection, De Hoop.
But as usual, the tires were as flat as a pancake and led a debate about the entertainment value of qualifications against Albania and Latvia.
Do not think that the boredom level of these tasteless games has not been discussed at the highest level.
Not long ago, a plan was hatched to expand the euros to 32 teams.
The best -ranked countries of the continent would face each other in an extensive Nations League to leave 16 sides. Lesser ranked countries would do the same and eventually leave 32 teams.
Almost everyone was ready, apart from European law broadcasters, who seem to think on a Friday evening on a Friday evening that England V Albania is exactly what the nation wants to see on their TVs.
London Bawlin '
As the domestic football returns, a plea. Can clubs in London stop playing London Calling by the Clash, finished by Joe Strummer, during every pre-match structure?
Yes, we know that the song is about the city – it is in the title – and your club is in that city. But that's it. It is not such a big deal.
And by endlessly forcing this irony to fans, you have worn out what should be cherished as a post-punk classic of one of the greatest rock bands of all time.
Just stop it. Please.
FA Party Ful of it
If you also have £ 120 to save you, you can also enjoy a night out during Fulham's FA Cup FA party of 1975 in May.
A selection of team members of the day will entertain guests with memories of the showpiece that they lost 2-0 to West Ham.
Sounds like a crazy idea but again, Newcastle held open-top bus parades after losing the FA Cup final of 1974 and 1976 League Cup final.
Even more crazy, someone I know actually went to both.
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