Chelsea FC have confirmed the date of the upcoming FA Cup fourth round tie via their official website. The game will kick off at noon London time on Sunday, January 27, 2013. It will be played at the ground of whomever wins the replay between Brentford and Southend United on January 15.

That's not great news for Chelsea fans here in the United States, as it's a 7 AM kickoff on the east coast and a 4 AM kickoff for all of those on the other side of the country. I guess Graham will have an early morning ahead if he wants to catch that game live.

The game will be scheduled between our 2nd semifinal leg with Swansea on January 23 and our away date with Reading on January 29. This seems like it would have been far better being scheduled on January 26, as that would have given the club more than one day off between games.

Rafa's rotation policy will be worth watching for this game, as it would be absolutely asinine to put out a full strength squad against a weaker cup opponent with a league game falling just two days later. Hopefully he learned from his mistakes with QPR, and plans ahead this time.