Man City draw Chelsea in FA Cup

Manchester City will play Chelsea, while Arsenal are at home to Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round.

Everton boss Roberto Martinez will face one of his former clubs, Swansea, while Sunderland will host Southampton in the other all-Premier League tie.

Premier League strugglers Cardiff are at home to holders Wigan, Hull travel to Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday host fellow Championship side Charlton.

I would never suggest that the draw is fixed. . . . . but the fact that the four biggest teams left in the competition drew each other looks to me a bit more than just a coincidence or luck of the draw.

On top of that there’s another two all Premier League ties and there’s also an all Championship relegation battle between Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton with one being guaranteed a quarter-final place.

So basically with all the big teams drawing each other it means which ever ones get through will certainly get a much more winnable tie in the next round and be odds on for a place in the semi’s, and most likely make it to the final so there’s maximum interest around the game and the FA can make a fortune by inviting 40,000 people who have no interest in the game and who spend most of it nowhere near their seat, to help hide the fact that they went massively over budget rebuilding Wembley and they now need to prostitute it for every penny it’s worth which is why they play the semi’s there as well, but like I said the draws not fixed.

While I’m on the subject of fixture arrangment I find it interesting how my team Arsenal have all of our games against the teams around us consecutively, in February we play Liverpool, then United, then Liverpool again in the cup, followed by Bayern Munich in the Champions League all in the space of 11 days.

It gets worse in March and April as we play Tottenham, Chelsea, Man City and Everton one after another, if you add in the fact that we beat Bayern and progress in the Champions League, which I acknowledge is highly unlikely, but for the sake of this let’s say we do and end up drawing Real Madrid, we could end up playing Tottenham, Chelsea, Man City, Everton and Real Madrid twice in the space of 25 days.

I accept the fact that over the course of a season it’s a guarantee that your team will have a run of tough games but to have to play all of the teams around you, and Man United, in such a short space of time and tough cup games as well is a bit excessive, but like I said the draws aren’t fixed.