Paullow

Defo hoping for an Arsenal win here, although a draw won't be bad with Spurs being at home (so more onus on them getting something). A home win would be the worst by far. Surprised to see Arsenal not far off even money favourites, despite them being top of the league. Thought it would be near enough 50/50.

Sunderland down to 10 men. Was having a quick browse of their forum after the incident, and this caused a chuckle. jesus juice said: Kicking right off. Love it Reply Aye Nout better than a red card after 18 minutes marra

Some top wrestling banter here in the Leeds game

Assumed it would have been on TV with it being a Friday night, but seemingly not. I'd have probably still watched Villa vs Leeds, but would have definitely kept an eye on it.

It does seem quite surreal seeing Fulham right up there in table, and certainly there on merit, and obviously they will come in further should they beat us on Sunday, but at the moment, they are still massive outsiders for the top 6, and Chelsea still the clear main threat from an odds perspective: https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/top-6-finish So while I'd have probably preferred a draw in the short term, longer term, this was probably the best outcome.

Christ. Sunday's game looks like it will be even bigger now. Hard to see Chelsea coming back. Would have preferred Fulham winning than Chelsea mind, if it couldn't have been a draw.

Yeah, draw for me. Chelsea winning is clearly the worst results as they will very likely be more of a threat at the end of the season, but at the same time, if Fulham do win, and then go on to beat us as well (two big tasks), they will only be 1 point behind us, and while they may not last, that will still feel strange given the plaudits we have (rightly) received for our great start.

Bet365 current outright odds: Man Utd 5/6 Newcastle 6/4 Southampton 11/1 Nottm Forest 12/1 I doubt we'll ever have been as short as 6/4 to win a cup since at least the 70s (if odds were even a thing then). Certainly in the two 90's FA Cup finals we would have been more as we were playing the respective league champions on both occasions as a midtable club, and nothing else would have come close. We'd have been a big outsider in the 2005 SF vs Man Utd, and Marseille 2004 UEFA Cup SF was probably 50/50 at best, and potentially a very strong Valencia in the final if we got there. Just realised, with making the SF, that will be ELEVEN matches in a row on TV

Wrong thread FFS

Perfect

I guess most would have taken Man Utd if offered 3 hours ago, mainly just to avoid City, but would be a bit gutting if we did draw them now as we would still be slight underdogs, albeit far more doable.

Kind of reminds me of the first FA Cup in 1998. We got Sheff Utd in the semi final, Arsenal got Wolves, so the higher ranked sides were kept apart (both opponents were in the second tier at the time).

Two Europe chasers and two relegation battlers in the SF, hopefully the former two are kept apart.

FOREST!

Effectively sudden death in the shootout now. I'd prefer Forest going through.

Just gone into stoppage time in the other match.

If it stays like this then Man Utd and Newcastle will be the two more favoured to win it, but Nottm/Wolves and Southampton's odds will also come in a bit because City would normally be such a big favourite to take it, and if any of the latter 3 did win it outright then Europe would only go down to 6th, and 5th if the FA Cup was somehow won by a 'lesser' side as well. Obviously in our position we want Man City out to massively increase out own chances of actually winning a major cup, and that's the mindset we need in our current position / trajectory, but it would be gutting if we finished 6th (where I'm expecting) and somehow didn't end up with European football next season.

These will be a long 36+ minutes for Southampton. Ironically, it might reduce our chances of playing in Europe next season if Man City do go out, but it will obviously increase our chances of winning it outright ourselves, so naturally hope they hang on.

I see Southampton have a Geordie (Armstrong) and a Mackem (Mara) up front.

I'd probably put the chances of going through something like 20% if we draw City, 38% if we draw Man Utd, and 68% or so if we drew any of the other 3, so naturally hope we avoid the two Manchester clubs, particularly City. That said, if someone offered me Man Utd now, I'd probably take it (especially if the home leg was second), mainly just to avoid City, but it should also be a good occasion, and would probably lock up one European spot in the league, should we fall short in the tie. That said, this doesn't feel at all like a one off where the next semi final will be another 18 years away, like it might had we got there as plucky underdogs under say Rafa, and regardless, there should be plenty of other huge nights ahead of us. Yes, we've had a reasonable draw up to now, especially with all 3 of the (bottom half) PL sides being at home, and in future times we may get a Man City or Chelsea away early doors, but there'll surely be more latter stage opportunities in the coming years, maybe the Europa League next season, so there does seem a bit less pressure if that makes sense. Just really looking forward to seeing us in a cup semi final (those under 25 won't have witnessed that before, crazy) regardless of who we get, and another exciting night for our club in a very exciting period.

Surprised it's been given the full one build up on Sky.

Weird situation for Arsenal with the draw being yesterday - it really should have been at 7pm today after the team news was in. They're obviously going great guns in the league, so will probably be focussing more on that, but they also know that they have the literal worst draw on paper in R4 (Man City away), so the chances of them making the L16 aren't particularly good. That said, they have a reasonable team out (away to Oxford), and a mix of regulars and fringe players - Martinelli, Saka, and Gabriel start who normally would, as well as Nketia who is very much a starter in Jesus' absence. Tomiyasu and Tierney probably count as one starter between them, so probably 5 first teamers out. The draw will surely have dampened their enthusiasm and ambitions generally though.

I can remember when Teddy first started posting here and it was exactly the same then. Seemed to come with decent intentions, but was never given a chance, goaded and antagonised quickly, so not much point continuing. It's a strange situation, obviously there's a rivalry, and most on here will naturally hope Sunderland lose most weeks and what not, but I also wouldn't mind a few more away fans on here, even Sunderland, especially if they're coming on with the intention to be objective, but just the nature of the forum makes this pretty unlikely, and regardless of why they have signed up, they'll almost certainly be shot down quickly by some.

Rodgers speaks well of Newcastle again in his latest press conference. Says it feels like a real occasion playing at SJP.