The Emirates FA Cup is one of the oldest and most interesting football competitions in the world. With its 154 years of history, the FA Cup holds the crown as the oldest national football championship in the world. Named after the Football Association, this event welcomes all football clubs from the English football system (up to level 9). Those from level 10 are stand-ins.
The FA Cup is a place where people can see hundreds of different terms every year, and the 2011-12 season holds the record with 763 clubs. The current 2024-25 season has 745 teams, but many of them are no longer active because they were eliminated. That said, the FA Cup is slowly approaching its Fifth Round, so we can’t wait to see which teams will advance to the next stage.
The matches here will take place between February 28 and March 3. Over these couple of days, football fans will have access to several big games, so it’s interesting to learn more about them and what we can expect. The experts at Efirbet.com dove deep into each upcoming match, so let’s learn more about it.
Aston Villa vs Cardiff City
The first match of the Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round that football fans will have access to is between Aston Villa and Cardiff City. Taking place on February 28, this is one of the matches that may turn out to be more interesting than many people think.
There’s no arguing that Aston Villa is the big favorite in this clash. For starters, Cardiff City is currently in the Championship, and it’s not performing well. In fact, at the time of writing, the club has 32 points and is 20th, just 2 points above Hull City.
Moving to Aston Villa, the club is currently 9th in the English Premier League. Following a somewhat strong start to the season, Villa made a few mistakes that caused them to lose a lot of points. Consequently, the team is doing what it can to end up as high on the leaderboard as possible.
Prior to the current Aston Villa vs Cardiff City clash, the two clubs met 8 times in total. Villa has 4 victories, whereas Cardiff defeated its opponents 3 times. Only one match ended in a draw. Interestingly, the last time these two met was in 2022, and Cardiff defeated Villa with a score of 3:1. It will be interesting to see if the club from Championship can step up its game and deliver another nasty surprise.
Crystal Palace vs Millwall
Although the Crystal Palace vs Millwall clash may not seem like the most exciting match, we believe it will be epic. These two football clubs met 14 times in total and 7 of those games ended in a draw. Crystal Palace has 4 victories, whereas Millwall won this match 3 times.
The last time we had the chance to watch this epic clash was in 2022. We saw 9 goals in this match because Crystal Palace defeated their opponents with a score of 5-4. Considering this result, fans are eager to see what’s going to happen in this FA Cup clash.
In terms of the teams’ current positions, Crystal Palace is 13th in the English Premier League and has the same number of points as Millwall. Speaking of the latter, Millwall is currently 14th in the Championship.
The Crystal Palace vs Millwall match will take place on March 1 at 14:15 (GMT+2).
Newcastle United vs Brighton & Hove Albion
The next interesting match from the FA Cup Fifth Round is between Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion. These two football clubs will play on March 2 at 15:45 (GMT+2), and the game will be broadcast on live TV.
Prior to the start of the season in the English Premier League, people expected Newcastle to perform very well following the huge financial bonus. Even though the team is not doing that bad, Newcastle is currently 7th in the EPL and it will be difficult to secure a spot for the UCL.
Brighton & Hove Albion, on the other hand, is living up to expectations. At the time of writing, the team is 10th in the English Premier League, just one point below Aston Villa.
Prior to this match, these two football clubs had met 20 times. Brighton won 8 matches, whereas Newcastle United won 5, and 7 matches ended in a draw.
Despite the fact that the stats are in favor of Brighton & Hove Albion, Newcastle defeated their opponents in their last match. Speaking of the devil, the two played in May 2023, and Newcastle defeated their opponents with the score of 4:1.
Manchester United vs Fulham
Perhaps the most interesting match from FA Cup’s Fifth Round is the one between Manchester United and Fulham. Both clubs ended up here after a series of impressive results, but now it’s time to see which of the two would survive and advance to the event’s next stage.
At the time of writing, Fulham is 8th in the EPL with 39 points and will try to do what it can to reach the European championships. As for Manchester United, it’s safe to say that the Red Devils are in one of their worst streaks yet. The team is currently 15th in the EPL and has pretty much no chance of reaching the top 8 spots.
Considering Manchester United’s impressive results before, it is no surprise that the club dominates in the H2H results. Fulham and United played a total of 40 matches between each other, and the Red Devils won 30 of them, 6 games ended in a draw, and Fulham only has 4 victories. Despite that, the current state of the two teams gives Fulham a good chance to surprise its mighty opponent.
