On Monday English football fields will begin the national cup stage, in which the participation of "random" teams is already excluded. One of the matches of the 1/8 finals is scheduled in Bournemouth, where the local club spends the season habitually unstable. "Cherries" could finish their tournament path, barely starting it in the 1/32 finals. The team played in London against modest CRC and lost the first half to the opponent with a score of 0:2. In the second half, Bournemouth turned the tide and scored three goals, the last of which was the winning goal. The previous round of the Cup marked the end of a brilliant period of "cherries", during which they managed to get a lot of victories. On their field Bournemouth defeated Swansea - 5:0. Leicester spent their two stages of the FA Cup on a similar scenario. First "foxes" with a score of 3:2 beat Millwall away, and then at home "swatted" Birmingham. Bookmakers have identified the home team as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 1.73 on their victory.

From the end of October to the end of January, Bournemouth produced a period of play that has not demonstrated since their participation in the Championship. The rather modest team played fourteen matches in three national tournaments and won nine of them. And the Cherries lost only four matches, in which twice the opponent was Liverpool and once each Manchester City and Tottenham. It's a shame, but Bournemouth have played far worse over the last month. In five February Premier League rounds, the club picked up just three points, failing to beat any of their opponents.

Leicester at the end of last season found themselves in the Championship. The team appointed Maresca as head coach, reorganised under the conditions of the new division and immediately produced results. Now the "foxes" are leading in the standings of the second league in England, even having two consecutive defeats. In the last round Leicester allowed Leeds United to get a willful victory in a personal meeting. Another thing is that this defeat is unlikely to subsequently lead to the loss of the "foxes" first place, because their advantage remained convincing. Leicester may well give their best at Bournemouth, as the situation in the Championship allows them to concentrate on matches in other tournaments.