Chelsea v Leicester LIVE: FA Cup team news, line-ups and more ahead of quarter-final today

A reminder of how you can watch today’s earlier kick-off.

You can watch the game on free-to-air television in the UK with BBC One. Coverage starts at 12.20pm GMT.

The BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer (both free with a subscription) will offer fans the option of a live stream on laptops and mobile devices.

If you’re travelling abroad and want to watch major sporting events, you might need a VPN to unblock your streaming app. Our VPN round-up is here to help and includes deals on VPNs in the market. Viewers using a VPN need to make sure that they comply with any local regulations where they are, and also with the terms of their service provider.

If this year’s January’s market seemed quiet, it was in part because there were very active discussions behind the scenes at the biggest spenders of the last three windows.

They want a major striker, above all Napoli’s Victor Osimhen. The club owners’ recent purchase of 1,000 shares for £140m isn’t viewed as an indication of budget, though.

Mauricio Pochettino has publicly said he has been told they don’t need to sell to buy. This Chelsea hierarchy has generally attempted different methods, constantly looking at angles others haven’t thought of yet.

“Kasey’s injured, Ricky’s injured and Jamie’s injured,” the Italian told the media in Seagrave on Friday.

“As I said to you at the last press conference, when we played Sunderland away, [Vardy] didn’t train. He just did something before the game. Then he played the last game. Fortunately for us, he scored twice, but then he got injured again.

“It’s a small problem. I said many times, we all love Jamie Vardy, but at the same time he’s 37 and we cannot forget that. It’s not a big issue. We also have the international break so hopefully we can have all our players back after that.”

The Ukrainian came off the bench to score with a superb individual goal to make it 3-1 in the 76th minute on Monday night (11 March).

“It was a very good goal and that is what we expect from a player from the bench – impact,” said Pochettino.

“Then it is about competing with different players in his position. Then he will deserve to (start).”

Chelsea’s parent company BlueCo 22 announced net losses of 653 million pounds ($832.71 million) after tax for the March 2022 to June 2023 period, while the Premier League club suffered 90.1 million pounds in losses before tax, company filings showed.

The club also had increased matchday and commercial revenue after they operated without the government restrictions placed on them after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when former Chelsea owner and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was sanctioned.

Mauricio Pochettino revealed “some Chelsea players did not sleep” before their Carabao Cup final defeat to Liverpool in February.

Pochettino believes the experience of playing at Wembley will help prevent a repeat of such problems if his team advance into the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s quarter-final clash with Leicester, Pochettino said: “The expectations can be so high and low and the mood (of the players) depends on the day.

“For us to beat Leicester will be massive for us because there is a possibility for this team to play at Wembley again.

Perhaps Arsenal needed to spend longer browsing the Chelsea club shop. A collection of black Chelsea away socks, complete with blue trim and a white lion on the calf, may have been acquired at the last moment to prevent a kit-clash, but what Arsenal needed most was an answer to Lauren James. A half-hour delay to kick-off did not give Jonas Eidevall enough time to come up with a solution, either, though the rest of the Women’s Super League would have struggled on this form.

James was unstopped, unplayable, as she once again turned Stamford Bridge into her personal playground and Chelsea moved a step closer to a fifth consecutive title with a 3-1 thrashing of their rivals. For Arsenal, being sent to the Chelsea megastore could have been put down as a minor embarrassment had they turned up for the delayed kick-off. Instead, Arsenal arrived for their biggest game of the season and ambled to a disorganised, incoherent display. But, really, enough about the kit.

Instead, yet another dispiriting defeat in the WSL raises more questions about Arsenal’s ability to perform consistently over the season and match the standards set by Emma Hayes’s champions. Granted another chance in the WSL title race by Manchester City’s win at Kingmeadow last month, Arsenal finally look like they are out of opportunities. The Gunners may yet affect the outcome of the title race when they face City over the run-in, but six points behind Chelsea now, with six games remaining, already appears to be too great a gap. Arsenal thought they had closed that when they thrashed Chelsea 4-1 at the Emirates.

With Pochettino desperately needing a win, it was no surprise who stood up and delivered at Stamford Bridge. Under the eye of England manager Gareth Southgate, Palmer scored for the fifth home game in a row in the Premier League, elevating a mid-table clash to take his total to 11 for the season. A typically cutting run from the right brought a thumping finish into the bottom corner, after Nicolas Jackson’s smart flick guided a trickling shot from Palmer past Martin Dubravka to give Chelsea a first-half lead.

When Palmer scores, he often creates as well. And vice-versa. The 21-year-old has now scored and assisted in the same game five times this season, more than any other player.

And in a fixture between two teams with billionaire owners, seemingly endless reserves of either finance or capital, it was the £40m bargain from Manchester City who once again looked a level above.

That said, Mykhailo Mudryk offered a much-needed reminder of his own potential after a devastating flicker of feet brought Chelsea’s third. It gave Chelsea enough of a cushion to withstand Jacob Murphy’s late consolation.

“I’ve been told, I didn’t hear to be honest, it’s difficult for me to understand,” he said.

“But it’s normal, we were losing the game 2-1 and they expressed their frustration. I am one of the ones responsible, I’m the coach.

“I was asked before if I feel the love from the fans. No. I’m not worried – we need to accept this relationship. You win your relationship through winning games.

“I will continue to work and try to change this perception. We need to manage some reality. We are working really hard to try to win games, the team is fighting.

“If it doesn’t work and the fans are disappointed I need to respect their opinion. I think the relationship is good. If they did what they did, fans are emotional.

“I am fighting with all my sense to try to provide a team to play in the best way to score goals and win games. Today is my 52nd birthday, I know this business, but I’m going to fight.”