Manchester City were paired with Brighton in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, while Watford will face Wolves following the draw, which was made immediately after Brighton’s penalty shootout defeat of Millwall on Sunday .
City, who last won the trophy in 2011, remain on course for a domestic treble of trophies. They won the Carabao Cup in February and are now tussling with Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table, despite their Merseyside rivals beating Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage on Sunday. Pep Guardiola’s team are also in the Champions League quarter-finals, where they face Tottenham next month.
When Brighton reached the 1983 FA Cup final – the only time the club has reached the final in its history – they beat City in the fourth round en route to Wembley.
After knocking out Manchester United on Saturday with a 2-1 win at Molineux, Wolves have emerged as a force in the FA Cup this season, having already seen off Liverpool in the third round. Nuno Espírito Santo’s men avoided City in the draw and will instead face Watford, who defeated Crystal Palace on Saturday. Javi Gracia’s men, who are in the last four for the second time in four seasons, having lost to Crystal Palace at Wembley in 2016. Brighton’s progress to the semi-finals had the knock-on effect of confirming Crystal Palace as the opponents for the first Premier League match to played at Tottenham’s new stadium on Wednesday 3 April in a rearranged fixture.
On the subject of pulling heavy favourites City in the last four, the Brighton manager, Chris Hughton, said: “All three other teams probably didn’t want to play Man City but at the moment we are so pleased to go through and if we don’t think we can win, then there is no point going into the tie.
“We are up against one of the best sides in the country, but on the day, we have a chance and we will have to have everything go our way.”
The semi-final ties will be played on Saturday 6 April and Sunday 7 April.