Fan writer David Pottier takes a look at what Bristol City have in store before their FA Cup fourth round tie at Port Vale.
Bristol City's reward for thrashing Watford is an away tie in the FA Cup fourth round against bottom of League One Port Vale.
On paper it is a game City should win to progress through to the last 16, but it also presents the opportunity for the home side to produce an upset, and I have been a supporter long enough to have seen many ignominious exits from the competition over the years.
Before that tie, City have a sequence of five Championship games with the outcome of those likely to define their season.
The loss at home to Preston North End, which saw City tumble down the Championship table, was a major blow and increases the pressure to bounce back quickly.
City take on Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday. The U's will be buoyed by it being new manager Matt Bloomfield's first home game in charge.
A draw is a minimum requirement there as, on Tuesday, City face a long trip to play resurgent Ipswich Town at Portman Road.
That game will see a return to East Anglia for Sam Morsy who was a key member of Ipswich's promotion team, as well as making over 30 appearances during last season's Premier League campaign.
City picked up 34-year-old Morsy as a free agent following his short spell in the Middle East and he earned many plaudits for his contribution in the FA Cup win.
Following their travels, City then have two homes games.
Firstly it is certain-to-be-relegated Sheffield Wednesday who rock up at Ashton Gate and who are, at the time of writing, looking for only their second win of the season - the first was 20 games ago.
It would be so Bristol City for them to end that sequence at Ashton Gate.
Mid-table Derby are the next opponents and there then follows a trip to Hull City.
The Tigers, like City, have play-off aspirations, but will their players be side-tracked by thoughts of causing an upset the following weekend in the FA Cup against their former manager Liam Rosenior's Chelsea? We can but hope.
With 73 points likely to be enough to secure sixth place this season, it is my view that for this run of five games, eight points is the minimum requirement for City to remain on track for this goal.
Even then that would need City to be racking up points at the rate of 1.7 per game across the remaining 15 fixtures.
The closer that ppg requirement gets to two the less chance City have of emulating last season's achievement, and then we might be remembering 2025-26 for a decent cup run, assuming of course that we overcome Port Vale first.
You can hear more from David Pottier on the Forever Bristol City podcast.
Category: General Sports
