Crystal Palace will play Watford and Everton will face West Ham or Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals.
With no side left in the competition currently in the Premier League’s top four but all occupying positions between fifth and 15th in the top flight, the denouement to this season’s cup is arguably the most open for many years. The ties will be played at Wembley on Saturday, April 23rd and Sunday, April 24th.
Neither Watford nor Crystal Palace have won the tournament, although both have played in the final, while West Ham’s last success came in 1980 and Everton’s in 1995. Manchester United have won 11 times but not since 2004.
The draw means there is still the possibility of a Watford-Everton final, a repeat of the 1983-84 season, while West Ham and Manchester United face a quarter-final replay in the last cup match to be staged at the Boleyn Ground before the east London club’s move to the Olympic Stadium.
United earned a replay with a late goal from Anthony Martial in a 1-1 draw at the weekend, while on Thursday they hope to overturn a 2-0 deficit against Liverpool in the Europa League last 16.
Top-four finish
United can take heart from their fightback against West Ham as they head in to two matches that will shape their season, according to
Chris Smalling
.
Following Thursday’s game against Liverpool, they take on Manchester City on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium in a derby with ramifications for the teams’ hopes of a top-four finish.
“To go 1-0 down and obviously everything is against you with previous results, then to show some fighting character and really push for the winner at the end, I think, hopefully does boost us,” Smalling said of the comeback against West Ham.
“We have got massive games now and, obviously, it is another game with the replay as well, so we’ve still got a lot of games to play for.
“No, it’s not impossible [Thursday’s challenge] and I think we need to play how we did in that second half and start the game, not start the game as we did today. We can’t afford any slip-ups.”
Smalling admits the mood was sombre following the defeat at Anfield in the first leg.
“It was very doom and gloom but we knew that in two days we had to get our heads right and we had a very big game,” he said.
“It helped that we had such a big game to play for because everyone can see the Wembley finish line. We just got our heads around this very quick and now we turn our attention back to Liverpool.
“We’ve got two massive games now and, more often than not we turn up in those big games. We’ve slipped up against some of the lesser teams this season, so it’s now time for us to step up.”
The defender agreed with Louis van Gaal that West Ham's Dimitri Payet dived to try to win a penalty during the tie at Old Trafford. The incident occurred in the second half as Marcos Rojo went to challenge the Frenchman. Referee Martin Atkinson waved play on and afterwards Van Gaal claimed Payet had dived.
Yellow card
Although West Ham manager Slaven Bilic disagreed, Smalling is clear Payet should have been booked. “I’ve heard there was no contact and, to be fair, it should have been another yellow card,” he said. “But there are many decisions in a game and it’s one that didn’t go our way.”
Payet had earlier been shown a yellow card. Moments after the second incident, he opened the scoring with a 68th-minute free-kick.
Smalling said: “I think if they’re not going to give a penalty, then it has got to be diving, really, hasn’t it? But it is frustrating for us and, obviously, they punished us with a very good free-kick.” Guardian Service
