FA Cup Quarter Finals Preview

The trophy the teams will be hoping to
have their hands on.

The FA Cup is back this weekend,   with a semi-final at Wembley Stadium beckoning for the teams remaining in the competition. The holders Chelsea are no longer in the cup and neither are Everton- the side that knocked Chelsea out at Stamford Bridge. The most glamorous tie at first glance is most certainly the tie between the premier league title contenders Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford.

The last times these sides met in the cup was in February 2008, the Red Devils thrashing Arsenal 4-0 at Old Trafford. The home side go into this fixture on the back of two defeats to Chelsea and Liverpool in the premier league, consequently dropping them points and putting Arsenal right back in the title challenge.  With Arsenal’s failure, after losing the Carling Cup final to Birmingham City, to end their drought of trophies since 2005 when they won the FA Cup on penalties against United, Arsene Wenger’s men will be eager to keep up their silverware hopes and progress through to the next round.  With their being such a small gap between the two sides in the league, it has the potential to be a very entertaining game and should prove to be a tight contest on Saturday afternoon.

The ties that take place on Sunday see the only football league side left in the competition Reading take on Manchester City at Eastlands. Brian McDermott’s Reading had a successful run in the same cup last year defeating Liverpool. So far they have managed to defeat West Brom and Everton en route to the last eight. City will be looking to forget their less than impressive performance against Dynamo Kiev in the Europa League on Thursday night losing 2-0 to the Ukrainians. Like the Carling Cup last year there could be a Manchester Derby in the semi-final if City and United win. However Mancini’s men will not go into the game arrogantly, there should be no under-estimation of Reading who are having a decent run in the Npower Championship.  Also on Sunday, Stoke City take on West Ham United at the Britannia Stadium, the Hammers are certainly enjoying premier league resurgence as a few good results including a defeat of Liverpool and last week’s 3-0 victory over the Potters have picked points up helping them get off the foot of the table. With Stokes strength at home, and West Ham’s good run in the cups this year, it is shaping up to be a tough battle.

The other quarter final sees Birmingham take on Bolton Wanderers at St Andrews on Saturday, the Carling Cup winners eased past Sheffield Wednesday to reach this stage and Bolton managed to get past Fulham in the previous round.  Whilst on paper it doesn’t look like the greatest of spectacles, the action on the pitch could tell a different story.

Altogether it looks to be a very good weekend of FA Cup football and the winners will have Wembley visit on the calendar to look forward to. The draw for the semi-finals will be made on Sunday evening after all of the games have been played.