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In recent years we've played a number of Premier League clubs at home in cup ties, and we've enjoyed superb nights against the likes of Spurs, Fulham, Aston Villa and Liverpool, but this tie against Portsmouth will be our first at home against a top league club since our local rivals paid us a visit for an FA Cup tie in 2005.
It is a game that the rival managers might just be looking forward to - they are the best of friends and have both spoken warmly about the other in the build up to the game. Harry (or is it 'Arry?) Redknapp has referred to Steve Cotterill as a 'triffic young manager' this morning in a radio interview ahead of the game.
Harry is, as the whole of football knows, in his second spell as Pompey boss. He walked once over the issue of Director of Football Velimir Zajec but returned and this time saw off the latest threat from that position a certain Avram Grant.
He likes to wheel and deal, so it is perhaps no surprise to see that during the summer transfer window he added no fewer than ten new players to his squad. The most expensive of them were Sulley Ali Muntari from Udinese and John Utaka from Rennes. They both cost £7 million whilst David Nugent wasn't far behind at £6 million although it does look as though they came close to cutting their losses on him by selling him to Derby.
To make way for them players such as Andy Griffin, Tresor Lomana LuaLua, Andy O'Brien, Gary O'Neil and Dejan Stefanovic have all gone. The full list of new players is as follows:
Hermann Hreidarsson from Charlton
Sulley Ali Muntari from Udinese
Martin Cranie from Southampton
Callum Reynolds from Rushden & Diamonds
Arnold Mvuemba from Rennes
David Nugent from Preston
John Utaka from Rennes
Glen Johnson from Chelsea
Pape Bouba Diop from Fulham
It is probably fair to say they were given a difficult start to the new season. They have played seven Premier League games and have already faced Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.
That set of fixtures has ensured they are currently in the bottom half of the table although they are not expected to remain there for long. Only two days ago they picked up three points, beating Blackburn at Ewood Park with a Kanu goal.
In the Carling Cup they have reached this round with a comfortable 3-0 win over League One Leeds, in which the goals were scored by Noe Paramot(2) and David Nugent.
Burnley will be hoping to progress to the fourth round for the first time in five years, and only the second time in a quarter of a century. The last two teams we beat in this round were Coventry (1982/83) and Spurs (2002/03).
Pedro Mendes might have a glance at the referee ahead of tonight's game. Back in January 2005, playing for Spurs against Manchester United at Old Trafford, it was Mendes whose goal was incredibly not given when the officials hadn't spotted it going a few feet over the line. The referee that night was Clattenburg.
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Portuguese born Mendes, or Pedro Miguel da Silva Mendes to give him his full name, started his career in his home country with FC Felgueiras before moving on to Vitória de Guimarães and it was whilst with his second club that he made his full international debut.
His next port of call was Porto before arriving in England during the summer of 2004, one of a number of signings made by the new regime at Spurs. He did well in his first season at White Hart Lane but things weren't so good for him once Martin Jol replaced Jacques Santini as coach.
After eighteen months there he moved to Portsmouth where Harry Redknapp had returned as manager and was part of the side that successfully fought off relegation. He was a regular player in the Portsmouth side for over a year but now finds it more difficult to hold down a regular place although he is expected to play tonight.
Mendes will be playing for the second time at Turf Moor if he is in the Portsmouth side. He was in the Spurs side that won here 3-0 in round four three years ago with goals from Robbie Keane(2) and Jermain Defoe.
Trying to determine the teams for tonight's game is somewhat difficult and that's definitely the case as far as Portsmouth are concerned. They won 1-0 at Blackburn on Sunday but their side is not expected to be anything like the same when they step out onto the Turf tonight.
Matt Taylor, Noe Pamarot, Benjani Mwaruwari and former Preston striker David Nugent were all on the bench. However all four can expect to start tonight and they are likely to be joined by any number of Pedro Mendes, Richard Hughes, Arnold Mvuemba, Linvoy Primus, Jamie Ashdown, Martin Cranie, Djimi Traore and Lauren.
That probably means very few, if any, of the winning team from Ewood will start. That team was: David James, Glen Johnson, Sol Campbell, Sylvain Distin, Hermann Hreidarsson, Sulley Ali Muntari, Sean Davis, Pape Boupa Diop, Niko Kranjcar, Nwankwo Kanu, John Utaka.
Steve Cotterill will be forced into at least one change from the side that started in the two away games last week. Midfielder Chris McCann has been ruled out with a hamstring injury and is already rated as doubtful for the game against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The good news is that Andy Gray is fine. He had a bad infection in an injury but that's been cleared and he's now had the stitches removed from the original injury. He should be ready to start tonight.
I don't think this is the game where we will give other players a game, I think we will stick as close as possible to the team that started last week and if so we will line up as follows:
Gabor Kiraly, Michael Duff, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Wade Elliott, Graham Alexander, Joey Gudjonsson, Kyle Lafferty, Robbie Blake, Andy Gray. Subs from: Brian Jensen, David Unsworth, Jon Harley, John Spicer, Alan Mahon, James O'Connor, Steve Jones, Ade Akinbiyi.
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It was a 5th round tie and we'd reached it following wins again Stockport County and Blackburn Rovers. Two Ray Pointer goals and one from Brian Pilkington had given us a 3-1 win at Edgeley Park in Round Three and we'd followed that up with a 2-1 win against our local rivals at Ewood Park where inside forwards Jimmy Robson and Jimmy McIlroy had scored the goals.
Portsmouth had beaten Swansea Town and then required a replay to see off Accrington Stanley before the Turf Moor game. Both sides at the time were in the First Division but we held an eight point lead over Pompey who were next to bottom. They ended the season eight points adrift at the bottom and were relegated.
Burnley, one year away from the Championship, finished in seventh place and went out of the FA Cup to a Peter McParland inspired Aston Villa in the next round.
Our team against Portsmouth was: Colin McDonald, John Angus, David Smith, Bobby Seith, Tommy Cummings, Jimmy Adamson, John Connelly, Jimmy McIlroy, Ray Pointer, Jimmy Robson, Brian Pilkington.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1994/95 | 1 | a | 0-2 | 9,097 | . |
| . | . | h | 1-2 | 10,666 | Eyres |
2000/01 | 1 | h | 1-1 | 15,494 | Weller |
| . | . | a | 0-2 | 12,941 | . |
2001/02 | 1 | h | 1-1 | 14,123 | Taylor |
| . | . | a | 1-1 | 18,020 | Johnson |
2002/03 | 1 | h | 0-3 | 15,788 | . |
| . | . | a | 0-1 | 19,221 | . |