Challenges Facing Chelsea in FA Cup Clash with Bradford City

Saturday presents Chelsea with the second of three cup ties in just eight days, as they face lower-league opposition in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Neatly sandwiched between the Capital One Cup semi-final double with Liverpool, the Blues take on League One side Bradford City in a bid to make it to the last 16 of the FA Cup once again.

Amazingly, Jose Mourinho's men are on a run of 27 games unbeaten at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup, with many expecting it to become 28 against a side ranked a huge 50 places below them in the league standings.

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Bradford City have recent history in cup competitions though, most notably when they defeated three Premier League sides to reach the Capital One Cup final in 2013. Wigan Athletic, Arsenal and Aston Villa (over two legs) were the sides defeated during that run, and had Chelsea not succumbed to eventual winners Swansea City in the semi-finals, this game could have been a rematch from two years ago.

They will be armed with over 6,000 fans making their way down the M1 for the game, too.

Clearly, the Blues are heavy favorites for the game, as they well should be. But what kinds of challenges are Mourinho's men going to face from the Yorkshire outfit on Saturday?

A Threat on the Counter

It's naturally expected that when lower-league sides square off against Premier League giants (particularly away from home), they try to flood men behind the ball to soak up pressure.

That isn't the way Bradford play these kinds of ties out, though. That famous cup run two years ago (where they became the first Fourth Division side to reach a major cup final in 50 years) saw Bradford give as good as they got in attack; a formula which saw them produce plenty of chances and opportunities to strike.

Expect Bradford to go with a 4-4-2 formation at the Bridge, something which will certainly give Chelsea's defenders plenty to think about. It's something Bradford manager Phil Parkinson admitted in his pre-match press conference on Thursday:

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“It’s getting that balance right in our team and getting a decent platform to play from.

“We have to make sure we’ve got the opportunity to attack them. We’ve got players in our team who I hope will cause Chelsea problems.”

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Therefore, we're going to see an extremely open game on Saturday afternoon.

Players With Points to Prove

The likely Bradford XI for the game on Saturday will see a couple of former Chelsea youngsters return to the Bridge for the first time, arguably with immense points to prove.

Creative midfielder Billy Knott was released by Chelsea in the summer of 2010, after failing to make a single appearance for the club's first team. He headed for Sunderland, with subsequent loan spells around the lower leagues eventually taking him to Bradford.

Under the guidance of manager Phil Parkinson, Knott has become a fulcrum of Bradford's midfield, scoring several crucial goals to help Bradford to a healthy sixth-placed standing in League One. He even scored a sensational goal against Bradford's arch-rivals Leeds United in the Capital One Cup earlier this year.

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Filipe Morais was once described by a national newspaper as "the man who turned down Mourinho," after rejecting a contract offer to go in search of first-team football elsewhere.

Things haven't quite gone to plan since then though, and after being released by Stevenage in the summer, Bradford plucked him from obscurity on a short-term deal. Since then, Morais' form has earned him a long-term deal with the Bantams, with several Championship clubs reportedly interested in Morais before he penned the deal.

Mourinho will know all about the talent Morais possesses, and he will likely give Cesar Azpilicueta a tricky afternoon at the office.

Commanding Physical Presence

If there's one thing Premier League sides aren't quite used to when they face lower-league opposition, it's the aerial and physical threat those teams provide.

Stoke City used that as somewhat of a culture-shock effect when they first rose to the Premier League, after all. And if any one team possesses physical presence, then it's Bradford City.

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Their likely front two both tower over 6', and they could give Kurt Zouma (and potentially Gary Cahill) a tough afternoon of aerial bombardment.

Jon Stead may be familiar to Chelsea fans, after spells in the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland. However, it's his strike partner who has a fantastic story to tell about his career.

James Hanson was working in a local supermarket until Bradford signed him as a 22-year-old. He's gone on to play over 200 times for the club, with his finest hour coming when he scored the goal that sent Bradford to the Capital One Cup Final, notching against Villa at Villa Park.

He's given Premier League defenders such as Ron Vlaar and Thomas Vermaelen a fair few problems when he's squared up against them, and it will be a challenge Chelsea's defence won't have experienced too often in the Premier League.

This will be a game Chelsea are expected to win comfortably, and rightly so. They are the Premier League leaders after all, playing a side a whole two divisions below them. But Bradford will certainly be coming to cause Chelsea a few problems, and they're a threat unlike any other Chelsea have dealt with this season.

Likely Bradford XI (4-4-2): Williams, Darby (c), Davies, McArdle, Meredith, Morais, Knott, Liddle, Yeates, Hanson, Stead.