Call us hipsters, call us painfully alternative, but Sutton United vs. Leeds United is Football FanCast's Fixture in Focus for the coming FA Cup weekend.
Indeed, there may be more eye-catching Fourth Round draws, such as Southampton and Arsenal's heavyweight clash, but no fixture encapsulates the magic of the FA Cup in quite the same way this weekend.
Sutton are the lowest ranked side left in the competition, representing the Vanarama National League, whilst Leeds are amongst the clubs in the best form, finding themselves batting out for promotion at the glamorous end of the Championship table.
These two clubs have met before; in the FA Cup way back in 1970, when Don Revie's boys claimed a 6-0 win at Gander Green Lane.
Sunday's 2:00pm kick-off is at the same venue, but will we see the same result? Hoping to shed some light on that is our all-in-one preview pack, which covers betting odds, key battles, likely starting XIs and much, much more!
Odds, form and prior encounters
Sutton win 4/1 - Leeds win 4/6
Draw 29/10
Understandably considering their three-tier difference in the English pyramid, the bookies are backing Leeds to claim a win against the National League outfit. Likewise, the Whites are enjoying a fantastic campaign, losing just six times since their inconsistent run in August and September, whereas Sutton's form has been patchy of late, winning only six of their last twelve games. That being said, the Amber and Chocolates were National League South champions last term, so there's clearly a drive to succeed amongst the squad - even if they are 15th this season.
In terms of prior encounters, Leeds and Sutton have met once before - back in 1970, when Don Revie's Whites made the trip to Gander Green Lane. Their eleven internationals bagged a 6-0 victory in front of a record 14,000 crowd.
SkyBet odds.
Likely starting XIs
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It's tough to predict to what extent Garry Monk will change his side for the visit to Gander Green Lane. He certainly won't want to damage his team's promotion hopes, but losing to Sutton could be equally detrimental in terms of morale. Therefore, we're estimating a mixed Whites line-up that gives opportunities to young players but retains star quality down the spine. Chris Wood leads the attack with Kemar Roofe playing behind - sparing Pablo Hernandez for a bench role - whilst Kyle Bartley and Pontus Jansson continue their impressive centre-back partnership. At full-back and in the engine room, meanwhile, youngsters Kalvin Phillips and Lewie Coyle come into the fold.
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Sutton lined up in a 4-4-2 formation for their last FA Cup outing but home fixtures have seen Paul Doswell favour a more in vogue three-man defence, which also allows for an extra body in the engine room - something vitally important for the Amber and Chocolates as it lets talented trio Jamie Collins, Craig Eastmond and Nicky Bailey operate alongside each other in the middle of the park. The experience and pedigree of Matt Tubbs, meanwhile, will be equally vital up top. The former Crawley and Bournemouth man has only scored twice since signing for Sutton at the start of December, but found the net in the second round of the FA Cup and again against Eastleigh last weekend.
Key Battle - The Engine Room
Working on our hunch that Monk could opt for relative youth in the engine room whilst Doswell will likely fill his with arguably Sutton's three best players, the midfield battle could well be what decides the game at Gander Green Lane. Indeed, Nicky Bailey plied his trade with Barnet, Southend, Charlton, Boro and Millwall in the Football League, whilst Craig Eastmond once featured in the Champions League for Arsenal and Jamie Collins is their top scorer in the league this term with six goals. That's enough pedigree and experience to potentially get the better of the Whites in the middle of the park, although Monk does have the likes of Ronaldo Vieira to come on from the bench and sure things up.
Word from the managers
"If I was in Garry's shoes, the overriding feeling is that I want to get Leeds into the Premier league," the man who works for free as Sutton manager and paid for the club's artificial 3G playing surface told Reuters.
"It's a no-brainer compared to wanting to do well in the FA Cup because Leeds should be in the top flight. If I was in Garry's shoes I would be playing my best players who won't start against Blackburn Rovers (on Tuesday).
"My hunch is he will play eight or nine young players. But they have all played first-team football this year. We've analysed their first team and that frightens us. We've analysed the young team that played against Cambridge and that frightened us, too. We are in for a tough game."
Garry Monk on the win over Nottingham Forest...
"We're very pleased, we're pleased with the three points. Good teams bounce back, they don't waste any time and we managed to do that in what was always going to be a difficult game. The Championship is extremely competitive but I thought we showed a really good level of performance to get those three points."
And Souleymane Doukara's wonder goal...
"To me it doesn't matter who scores the goals. What's important is that the team works in the way we want them to work and they reach high levels of performance - which we have been doing for a long time now - and that we're able to create chances as a team, and we're doing that."