Sports Blog 22/04/2016: FA Cup Preview – Semi-Finals, Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th April 2016

It’s an all Premier League affair at Wembley this weekend, as the home of English football hosts the FA Cup semi-finals. Not that the competition has plucked the cream of the crop, 3 of the 4 sides languishing in the bottom half of the table.

The only one of the semi-finalists to have won their last game, Manchester United are first up on Saturday evening, taking on Everton at 5.15pm on BBC One. Still in the running for a place in the Champions League, United’s 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace and Man City’s draw against Newcastle seeing the former move within 2 points of their bitter rivals, Louis van Gaal can just about rescue a lacklustre season by lifting the FA Cup at the end of May. Marcus Rashford (scorer of the winner against Villa last weekend) remains United’s best player at the moment, and heads to Wembley with a Super Mega PGM spread of 22-27, whilst the recently returned Wayne Rooney is at 21-26.



On paper it looked like United had been dealt the toughest team (other than themselves) left in the competition. In reality, however, Everton are unravelling at an alarming pace, their 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Liverpool on Wednesday taking their winless streak in the league to 7 games. It’s an abject run that leaves Roberto Martinez in the precarious position of having to win the FA Cup to stand a chance of holding onto his job, whilst effectively securing the departure of the likes of John Stone and Romelu Lukaku over the summer. For the moment, however, the latter still remains the Toffees’ best chance of cup glory, the Belgian behemoth travelling to London with a Super Mega PGM of 25-30.

Following their miserable Merseyside derby the Toffees seem to be at a season nadir, something that unsurprisingly gives Louis van Gaal’s side the advantage, Spreadex offering a Manchester United/Everton Goal Supremacy spread of 0.4-0.6 with a Total Goals spread of 2.35-2.55.

Sunday’s semi-final is slightly less easily to call, as Crystal Palace square off against Watford at 4pm on BT Sport 2. A miserly 8 points from their 16 league games since the New Year began would see Crystal Palace squarely in the relegation zone, the London club saved by the stark contrast of their showing in the first half of the season, when, remember, they were pushing for a place in Europe. Whatever mojo have lost in the league, however, can be found in the Cup, where Palace have knocked out Southampton, Stoke, Tottenham and Reading in arguably the competition’s most difficult draw.



Like Palace Watford have had a similarly dichotomous season, their first half excellence giving way to something of a league slump, now equal on points with fellow promotees Bournemouth. Yet, as has been the case for Alan Pardew’s side, the FA Cup has seen the Hornets maintain their magic, beating Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, Leeds and, most notably, Arsenal to reach their first semi-final since 2007 (where they lost to Manchester United). Watford should also be bolstered by the return of Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo, both rested for the mid-week loss to West Ham and at Super Mega PGMs of 20-24 and 26-31 respectively.

Neither side is in anything approaching good form. However, Wednesday’s loss to United was Palace’s first in 5 games, giving them the slight edge at a Crystal Palace/Watford Goal Supremacy spread of 0.1-0.3 with a Total Goals spread of 2.3-2.5.

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