Reason Sheffield Wednesday v Coventry City has peculiar kick-off time nothing to do with Sheffield United

The two clubs will do battle for a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup after the Owls got this far thanks to an action-packed 4-0 win over Cardiff City earlier this month. The Sky Blues arrived in the fourth round thanks to an equally eventful 6-2 win over League One Oxford United.

A Friday evening match provides Wednesday's second peculiar kick-off time in as many cup matches, with the Cardiff clash having been played on a Saturday evening. Eagle-eyed supporters of both Sheffield clubs noticed soon after the fourth round draw was made that Sheffield United had also been drawn to play at home, meaning that one of the clubs would have to shift their match due to the bearing on emergency services. The Blades retained the regular Saturday 3pm kick-off for their tie against Brighton & Hove Albion.

It has been assumed by many, then, that the Wednesday fixture was chosen to make way to the annoyance of supporters. The fact is, however, that the Wednesday v Coventry match saved local authorities the headache of rearranging one of the matches when it was chosen for overseas television broadcast on Friday evening, following their previous appearance on foreign TV for their Cardiff win in the previous round. The match will be shown on ESPN+ to viewers outside the UK.

Wednesday last reached the fifth round stage of the world's oldest senior professional cup competition in the 2019/20 season when they beat Brighton and QPR before falling 1-0 to Manchester City. The competition holds happy recent memories for Owls fans after they squeezed past Newcastle United in a memorable encounter last season.