Some of the best FA Cup moments in history have occurred under the lights

The fifth round of the FA Cup is a weekday thing now, for some reason, causing the more small ‘c’ conservative and superannuated among us to feel mild pangs of discombobulation, bordering on unease that occasionally segues into the sort of impotent rage that leads to high blood pressure, piles and Brexit. But there’s really no need to fret. Let’s be honest, most of the best FA Cup moments in history occurred under lights in the middle of the week anyway. Ricky Villa! Ryan Giggs! The great Chelsea-Leeds donnybrook! Bryan Robson scoring against Oldham from a yard out with his front tail! The list is endless, even if ours clearly ran out of steam after entry No 3.

So let’s embrace this new-fangled state of affairs, which you may as well do as it’s surely here to stay now, or at least until the FA Cup is abolished in 2031 by decree of all four members of the new streamlined Premier League (Newcastle Football Concern, Consolidated Mancunian, London Weekend and PSG). That’s our prediction, anyway, Football Daily will be long gone by then so there’s no point coming back to call us out. But yes, let’s embrace it, although to be fair we could do with a more interesting draw to sell the idea. The plum tie of the fifth round – in the old-fashioned sense of having potential shock value, as opposed to the modern one of being exactly the same sort of fixture you get week in, week out on Sky – is relegation-haunted Saints versus fourth-tier Grimsby. But the Lawrie McMenemy derby isn’t on until Wednesday night. Bah.

Instead, our attention must first turn to the only other potentially seismic shock of the fifth round, Manchester City’s visit to their Bristolian namesakes. The Robins surprisingly have the historical upper hand over the