Crystal Palace have been drawn against Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi-finals, while Nottingham Forest will face the winner of Bournemouth or Manchester City.
The semi-finals will be held at Wembley on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 April, with history on the line as Forest, Villa and Crystal Palace aim to become just the fourth team in the last 30 years to disrupt the dominance of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United in this competition.
For Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, victory at Wembley would secure their first major trophy, while Forest last won the FA Cup in 1959 and Villa even further back, in 1957.
A London derby on Saturday saw Crystal Palace sweep aside Fulham to become the first team to progress to the last four, while Nottingham Forest required penalties to edge out Brighton later on.
Aston Villa powered past Preston North End – the only Championship side left in the draw – at Deepdale earlier on Sunday, with Marcus Rashford’s renaissance under Unai Emery culminating in two second-half goals as they won 3-0.
Bournemouth or Manchester City will complete the set of semi-finalists, with their match taking place after the draw, starting at 4.30pm on Sunday at the Vitality Stadium.
Andoni Iraola’s side go into the meeting as underdogs despite their brilliant season, but will be aware they have what it takes to disrupt Pep Guardiola’s serial winners. The Cherries won 2-1 win in the league in November, ending City’s 32-game unbeaten run in the top flight and triggering their startling decline this season, with the FA Cup Sunday’s visitors’ last chance at silverware.
But despite their woes this season seven-time champions City have the most recent pedigree in the competition, having won their last seven FA Cup quarter-final ties. They were last victorious in 2023, beating rivals Manchester United 2-1, then losing by the same scoreline to the same opposition the following year.
Palace have reached the final twice, losing in 1990 and 2016, and for two-time winners Nottingham Forest this is their first last-four appearance – and would be their first final – since 1991, when they were defeated by Tottenham Hotspur.
Villa have had the most success of the confirmed semi-finalists so far, having won the tournament seven times, but will have painful memories of their last appearance at Wembley, when they lost 4-0 to Arsenal in 2015.
