FA Cup: Manchester City, others eye FA Cup glory in round of 16 fixtures

The FA Cup returns with Premier League teams battling for a quarter-final spot. Man City, Man United, and Newcastle face key clashes.

 

The FA Cup returns this weekend with the likes of Manchester City and their city rivals Manchester United seeking easiest routes to a silverware this season, will the magic of the cup strike again? (Photo credit: GOAL)

The FA Cup is back this weekend, with eleven Premier League teams doing battle to make it to the last 8, with the oldest cup competition in the land standing as the easiest route to silverware this season for many clubs.

Aston Villa will open the weekend with a home game against Championship side Cardiff City; with Unai Emery and his lads still in the Champions League, and with a favourable fixture against Club Brugge coming up next week, Villa will be expected to beat Cardiff.

The Championship side isn’t in a good place, as they have only won one of their last five games, leaving them just a couple of places above the drop zone in the Championship League; however, the magic of the FA Cup is never tired of striking hard.

Crystal Palace will be home to Millwalll on Saturday; it’s a fixture that is expected to swing the way of the Eagles,, and unless Millwalll steps up massively, they don’t stand a great chance against Oliver Glasner’s side; however, the latter is expected to rest a few players for this one.

Bournemouth and Wolves will do battle in the first all-Premier League sides affair at the Vitality Stadium. The Cherries laboured past a resurgent Everton in the last round; now they must do it against another resurgent Wolves side.

Wolves currently have their sights on their Premier League survival, but a quarter-final ticket in the FA Cup can help with their momentum, and they will take the battle to Bournemouth, making this fixture one to keep an eye on.

Manchester City is completely out of the title race, bringing an end to their four-year foothold on the Premier League, and they have been bundled out of the Champions League at the earliest ever by a Pep Guardiola team; Plymouth Argyle will not find them interesting on Saturday.

The Champions know that this is their only route to silverwarehis season; they will give it everything, and while they understand how a fixture like this can be, and the fact that Plymouth sent Liverpool packing from the competition, they won’t take anything for granted.

Newcastle and Brighton is one of the other three all-Premier League affairs. Newcastle rested Isak for the trip to Liverpool; he should be fresh for the Seagulls, who are now on a streak and would be happy to take that form to St. James’s Park.

Manchester United will be at home to Fulham; they must still be buzzing from their impressive win over Ipswich despite being one man light; Fulham isn’t a small fry with the Lilywhites also eyeing a top six finish in the league; this will be fun to watch.

Finally, Forest will be home to Ipswich. Both sides can rest some key players, but they will both fancy their chances here. Ipswich has a bigger problem on their hands, which is the relegation dogfight. Can a win at Forest spur them on in the race against the drop?