Chelsea vs. Port Vale, FA Cup: Preview, team news, how to watch
Can we win at least this game?
COBHAM, ENGLAND - APRIL 3: Benoit Badiashile, Malo Gusto and Cole Palmer of Chelsea walk out for a training session at Chelsea Training Ground on April 3, 2026 in Cobham, England. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images) | Chelsea FC via Getty Images We’re back from the international break, and I hope everyone’s had a chance for a nice little mental break as well, because these final few weeks of the season could get very taxing indeed. We begin our quest to avoid implosion (on and off the pitch) with a cupcake of a matchup against third division strugglers Port Vale, who have somehow managed to make it into the final eight of this year’s FA Cup.
True Magic of the Cup stuff! They can trace their roots back a century and a half, but this is only the second time they’ve ever made it this far. Of the eight teams remaining, they’re the only ones to have never won it, reaching the semifinals only once, in 1954.
Though Chelsea continue to invent new ways to frustrate, disappoint, and infuriate (on and off the pitch), surely not even this Chelsea can contrive to [FUN] this up. Right? Right?
Date / Time: Saturday, April 4, 2026, 17. 15 BST; 12:15pm EDT; 9:45pm IST Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6 Referee: Farai Hallam (on pitch); Neil Davies (VAR) Forecast: Overcast, breezy On TV: BBC One, TNT Sports 1 (UK); none (USA); Sony TEN 1 (India); SuperSport MaXimo 1 (NGA); elsewhere Streaming: BBC iPlayer, HBO Max (UK); ESPN Select (USA); Sony LIV (India); DStv Now (NGA) Chelsea team news: Where to even start? Chelsea have lost four in a row, three of those by three goals, and have not scored a goal in over 300 minutes.