After the heartbreak of last year’s Wembley loss to Manchester City, could Manchester United win this season’s FA Cup?
The Reds last lifted the trophy in 2016 when beating Crystal Palace 2-1 after extra time. Another final was reached a couple of years later but United lost 1-0 to Chelsea. Then came last season’s historic FA Cup final as Wembley was the stage for a Manchester derby match.
The FA Cup is always important for Manchester United. After all, they have managed to win the trophy 12 times and reached nine other finals. This season the FA Cup is the only piece of silverware that United can realistically win. 13 is considered an unlucky number by many but a 13th FA Cup victory certainly wouldn’t be frowned upon.
This season has seen Manchester United be given two away ties against lower league sides. The third round saw United away at League One Wigan Athletic. It was a potentially tricky game at a club who won the FA Cup in 2013.
Thankfully, United were not to be embarrassed in early January. Goals from Diogo Dalot and a second half penalty converted by Bruno Fernandes took them to a comfortable 2-0 win and into the fourth round.
The draw for round four again saw the Reds drawn away. It could even have been a trip to National League Eastleigh and what an occasion that would have been. However, after getting a draw at League Two Newport County, they lost the home replay.
United were off to Wales therefore and what a game that turned out to be against Newport. When you travel to a lower league side, the aim is to get an early goal. That takes the wind out of the sails of the home side and makes their tough task even more difficult.
That’s just what happened at Newport on January 28. Fernandes opened the scoring in the seventh minute and six minutes later, Mainoo made it 2-0 to United. At that point it looked like a question of how many they could score.
However, County pulled one back in the 36th minute to get back in the game. They then equalized two minutes into the second half and United were in a real cup tie again. United didn’t panic though and goals from Antony and Hojlund secured a 4-2 win.
That took United into the last 16 and continued their consistent record in the FA Cup. In the past nine seasons only in 2021-22 did they fail to reach at least the quarter finals. To get that far again this season, they must again go on their travels. United are currently as high as 9/1 to win this season’s FA Cup, according to some gambling web sites in the USA.
They didn’t know exactly where that would be when the fifth round draw was made. Nottingham Forest needed to win a home replay against Championship side Bristol City to book their place in round five. That’s what they managed to do but only after a penalty shoot-out.
United have played Forest twice this season and they were both eventful Premier League matches.The first game was played at Old Trafford on August 26. It’s often said that a team can go ahead too early. That’s just what Forest did as they went 2-0 up in just four minutes. United fought back bravely to level the scores seven minutes into the second half. Bruno Fernandes then converted a 76th minute goal to earn United the three points.
The reverse fixture was played at the City Ground on December 30. After a goalless first half, Forest took the lead only for Marcus Rashford to equalize. It was not to be another great comeback though with Gibbs-White scoring an 82nd minute goal for the home side.
Now the two sides meet again in the FA Cup on February 28. Forest continue to struggle and are fighting a relegation battle. United’s away form has picked up in recent weeks and the goals are flowing on the road. You can get odds of even money on the Reds winning that match with a draw at 5/2 and Forest 12/5 to be the winners.
The two sides last met in the FA Cup 34 years ago. On that occasion, United won away at Forest 1-0 with Mark Robins scoring the winner. Looking for omens? After winning that game they went on to win the 1989-90 FA Cup final beating Crystal Palace in the final.
A repeat of that score later this month would be perfectly ok as the Reds continue their bid to reach a second successive final but win the FA Cup this time.
