Which side will make up for a disappointing season by reaching next month’s FA Cup final at Wembley?

Saturday’s semi-final is the real biggie, when Manchester United take on Tottenham at 5.15pm on BBC One. Both sides had a role to play in Man City clinching the Premier League title last weekend; a combination of Spurs’ 3-1 loss at the hands of the now-champions, and United’s surprising defeat at home to West Brom a day later, put Guardiola’s lot out of reach.



Now the FA Cup is the sole chance of silverware. United have looked far more comfortable in the Cup; in 4 games they haven’t conceded a single goal while scoring 9. And though you could argue Jose Mourinho hasn’t had the most difficult run, facing Derby, Yeovil, Huddersfield and Brighton, it’s not like Tottenham have had it any tougher.

Yet more than once Spurs have messed up on the road. A 3rd round win over Wimbledon was followed by a 1-1 draw at Newport (and subsequent Wembley win, obviously), before suffering the same fate against Rochdale (they did admittedly follow that up with a hefty 6-1 hammering of the Dale). They had fewer issues in their Wales-set quarter-final, breezing past Swansea 3-0.

Though each side has picked up a win against the other this season, the fact Wembley has been Spurs’ pretty damn successful home this season means they just about have the edge, at a Tottenham/Man United (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.2-0.4 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.5-2.7.

Turning to Sunday and can Southampton do what they couldn’t last weekend and best Chelsea, at 3pm on BT Sport 1? The two met last Saturday and the Saints, who are facing relegation, very nearly gave the Blues a shock, leading 2-0 with 20 minutes to go. However thanks to Olivier Giroud and Eden Hazard last season’s champions managed a late comeback, picking up the 4th of just 5 league wins in 2018 (the most recent came against Burnley on Wednesday).



Like Tottenham, Chelsea haven’t had the smoothest journey to Wembley. They were forced to penalties by Norwich in their second attempt at that fixture, while it took an extra-time goal from Pedro to get them past Leicester in the quarter-finals. Sandwiched between those were healthy 3-0 and 4-0 home wins over Newcastle and Hull respectively.

Despite their Premier League woes, Southampton have sailed through to the semis, if in a fairly routine fashion. Early victories over Fulham, Watford and West Brom were nothing to write home about; their quarter-final win against Wigan was perhaps a tad more noteworthy, and even then that’s only because of the Lactics themselves knocking out Man City the round previous.

Though they ran them close last weekend, the Saints may struggle this time out, with Spreadex offering a Chelsea/Southampton Goal Supremacy spread of 1.05-1.25 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.75-2.95.