Manchester United will host Brighton in the FA Cup quarter-finals after beating Huddersfield on Saturday night.
United won 2-0 at the John Smith’s Stadium to set up a repeat of the 1983 final against the Seagulls, who are through to the last eight for the first time since 1986.
The teams drew 2-2 in that Wembley final 35 years ago, before United won the replay 4-0.
The well-fancied teams have avoided each other in the quarter final draw, although last year’s beaten finalists Chelsea face a tricky trip to Leicester after both sides won their ties on Friday night.
Manchester City are still chasing a remarkable quadruple and, if they beat League One high flyers Wigan on Monday, the Premier League leaders host Southampton in the last eight.
The Saints beat West Brom 2-1 on Saturday to secure a quarter final berth for the first time since 2005.
Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea fought out a 0-0 draw on Saturday and whoever prevails in the replay will entertain the winners of Sunday’s Rochdale-Tottenham tie.
Ties to be played over the weekend of March 16-19.
| Southampton star reflects on West Brom win | Dusan Tadic netted the decisive goal as Southampton defeated West Brom 2-1 in the fifth round of the FA Cup on … 18-02-2018 |
Watch the best of the action in just 90 seconds, as Southampton beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1, at The Hawthorns, in the fifth round of the Emirates FA Cup.
Manchester City are running away with the Premier League title.
Pep Guardiola’s side are 16 points ahead of their closest rivals, Manchester United, after 27 games played.
Considering they are so far in front, the real drama comes in the race for the top four, with five teams (United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal) fighting to fill the final three Champions League qualification places.
Chelsea won the Premier League last season in similarly commanding fashion, but which team wins the prize for being most dominant since the start of 2016-17?
Click the right arrow, above, to see the Premier League table based on points won since the start of last season, featuring the 17 teams who have played in both campaigns…
Watch our interview with match-winner Dušan Tadić after Southampton’s 2-1 victory away to West Bromwich Albion in the fifth round of the Emirates FA Cup.
And we have League One strugglers Rochdale to thank, as Steve Davies’ injury-time equaliser forced a fifth round replay with opponents Tottenham .
Harry Kane once again looked to have saved Spurs blushes after coming off the bench to score a late penalty, but for Davies dramatic leveller.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men could only watch on as fellow Premier League big guns Manchester United and Chelsea comfortably navigated their paths to the last eight.
A brace from Willian helped the Blues cruise to a 4-0 win over Hull on Friday, whilst Mourinho’s men put VAR controversy behind them to sidestep Huddersfield with a 2-0 win.
Elsewhere Brighton saw off a plucky League Two Coventry side 3-1, whilst West Brom’s week from hell continued as they were downed 2-1 at home to Southampton.
And it was mixed fortunes against the Sheffield clubs, as Leicester narrowly defeated Sheffield United, whilst Swansea could only muster a draw with Sheffield Wednesday.
Here are 10 things we learned…
The fact that this game came in the same week as Tottenham’s brilliant draw at Juventus only served to remind us all of football’s capacity for the ridiculous, and Spurs’ performance for an hour did too.
There were different individuals on the field this time, of course, but if anything this showed just how this set of Tottenham players thrive when matches are open, attacking affairs and how they struggle against massed ranks of defence, whatever level the defenders are at.
Pogba wasn’t missed…but not because he’s been struggling in recent weeks, more because they played a cute game on the break to soak up home pressure, before unleashing Lukaku’s pace and power on the break.
It was might effective, even if there were some hairy moments, with the big centre forward showing some tantalising combinations with both Mata and Sanchez.
Chelsea’s Brazilian forward Willian showed his class once again with two spectacular goals on an impressive display.
The 29-year-old bagged a brace in the 4-0 victory against Hull and almost had a hat-trick but for the post.
Both of his strikes came from outside the box as he fired home his first after just two minutes, before adding a second before half time.
Boss Antonio Conte was full of praise after the match and said, "“For sure, Willian’s performance was impressive.
"I hope to see always this type of performance because, when Willy plays in this way, it is a great joy for me, the team, the club and our fans.
“Today he played very well. But I’m very happy.”
He may have been criticised for going AWOL from club side Leicester, but Riyad Mahrez’s performance against Sheffield United showed he is back, and he means business.
The Algerian winger missed two games for the Foxes after throwing his toys out of the pram when the club denied him a deadline day move to admirers Manchester City.
But Mahrez was back in the starting XI to a warm reception from the King Power crowd, and he repaid their support with an inspirational display.
The 26-year-old set up the only goal of the game for teammate Jamie Vardy, before leaving the field to a standing ovation in the dying minutes.
It was a strange week for West Brom, particularly following the antics of four of their first team players in Barcelona midweek.
Jonny Evans, Gareth Barry, Boaz Myhill and Jake Livermore landed themselves in hot water after allegedly stealing a taxi during the training week in Spain.
And Evans paid the ultimate price, as he was stripped of the captaincy for the Baggies FA Cup tie against Southampton, with Gareth McAuley taking over armband duties.
To make matters worse, the club lost the match 2-1, leaving them out of the cup and bottom of the Premier League table.
Another week, another fresh bout of VAR controversy.
This time Juan Mata and Manchester United were at the centre of it as the Spaniard had a goal ruled out for offside after the intervention from the video replay.
The decision looked to be a correct one, with Mata’s knee showing as marginally offside, but United boss Jose Mourinho still had plenty to say on the topic.
Mourinho said, "The referees should decide on VAR. Do they feel happy with it? Do they want some technical help? Or do they still want to live with the human mistakes they make?
“Do they prefer some guy in the studio to say ‘it’s not offside or a penalty’?
“This was against the words in the protocol that say it must be a clear and obvious situation. It wasn’t a clear and obvious situation.”
The goal was obviously the highlight, but there was plenty else about Lucas Moura’s display which would have filled Spurs fans with hope.
They are unlikely to see the best of flying Brazilian this season given that he had featured just six times for PSG before his January move, but as an extra option for a squad challenging for the top four he’s a fine addition.
New signing Olivier Giroud got his Chelsea career off the mark with his first goal for the Blues.
The Frenchman bagged the fourth goal of his new sides 4-0 win over Hull at Stamford Bridge on Friday.
Giroud had fallen down the pecking order at previous club Arsenal, but showed Antonio Conte what he can do on this display, and his transfer could be pivotal to Chelsea’s success in the second half of the season.
The last time Brighton found themselves in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, half of their squad wasn’t even born.
35 years ago the Seagulls reached that stage, and went all the way to the final, only to lose to Manchester United.
Boss Chris Hughton will be hoping his side can continue their run a little further but with a happier ending, and will have been buoyed by his teams professional display against Coventry.
Despite making nine changes, first goals for new boys Leonardo Ulloa and Jurgen Locadia - as well as one for Connor Goldson - helped Hughton’s men to a convincing 3-1 victory.
Who knows, it could be their year.
Football always has a way of throwing up fixtures that welcome a return to old stomping grounds.
And the fifth round has been no different, as Swansea manager Carlos Carvalhal returned to former club Sheffield Wednesday with current side Swansea.
The Portuguese gaffer spent a fairly successful two and a half years at Hillsborough, before switching to the Liberty Stadium.
He couldn’t get one over on his old side though, as the Swans and the Owls played out a 0-0 stalemate to take this tie to a replay.
Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino has defended Alan Pardew’s ill-fated Barcelona training trip as the West Bromwich Albion head coach fights to keep control at The Hawthorns.
Pellegrino’s men piled further pressure on Pardew by ending Albion’s involvement in the FA Cup on Saturday just two days after the ‘taxi-gate’ affair that added to West Brom’s season of woe.
Pardew had won just one of his 13 Premier League games in charge before four senior players broke a curfew and allegedly stole a taxi in Barcelona in the early hours of Thursday.
Jonny Evans, Gareth Barry, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill apologised for staying out late but their actions heaped further scrutiny on Pardew in a week when West Brom had already sacked their chairman and chief executive.
Pellegrino, however, had sympathy with his opposite number’s decision to take his players abroad. “I have done that all my life; decisions about who goes to a break, the training ground, the training camp – two days, seven days, 10 days, three weeks, I have never had any problem,” he said.
“Sometimes when I was a player a manager would say ‘have one day off, go out and enjoy’. Today, when players are out together they have to be 100 per cent of the time aware of their behaviour but I have never had a problem.
“I don’t like to talk about the other team. Today there so are many informations about football, football is so important in our culture. But I don’t know if this type of news affects or not the performance on the pitch, to be honest.
“But the players today are really professional; it is impossible to play at this level if you are not professional. But everybody makes mistakes. The problem is that everybody knows these lads, they are famous, they are the TV every single week. There is a lot of news around these teams.
“But I don’t know if it affects their performance on the pitch. I think the players here are very professional. I was a player at Liverpool too. I know a lot of British players in my dressing room.
“They are all very professional because the pressure for them is to be out there on the pitch, to be on top of preparation, to be on top of nutrition, to rest – it is really hard to play at this level. Sometimes they have the right to enjoy themselves.”
Pardew’s own position is under intense scrutiny with six Premier League games ahead against teams outside the top six that will define the Baggies’ top-flight future.
“I think it (the scrutiny) is fair in terms of the results and the decision to take the guys away that I thought was the right decision,” Pardew said. “We had had some tough results. I don’t know the players and seen them socially too much.
“We cancelled the Christmas things. We have not really done anything socially. So for it to backfire on me like that was unfortunate. But it happened. I have to accept that.
“In terms of this week I am an experienced manager. Trust me, I will be there Monday morning bright and early to try to get ourselves ready for Huddersfield.”
Amid the fall-out from that night in Barcelona, perhaps the most intriguing questions centre on the involvement of Jonny Evans.
Here was the West Bromwich Albion captain in a cohort of four stealing a taxi in the city little over 48 hours before a match.
Schooled by Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Evans has previously been known for his professionalism, but the mask slipped in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The incident came little more than two weeks after Evans failed to secure a move away from the Hawthorns, with the club seemingly sleep-walking into the Championship. He’s available for £3million should they end up relegated.
Manchester City were more serious in discussing a move for Evans than Arsenal, whose interest was fairly subdued as they acquired other targets. City ended up buying Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao, leaving Evans staring at a battle for survival as the promise of something altogether more satisfying never materialised.
Maybe one or more of those factors crept into his subconscious when, along with Gareth Barry, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill, they chose to break manager Alan Pardew’s training trip curfew.
Pardew decided to strip Evans of the captain’s armband for the visit of Southampton, and the manager will decide this week whether to make that permanent. Thankfully for Pardew, Evans was strong in this game, and his manager was happy with his contribution in unfamiliar surroundings at left back. One recovery challenge as the visitors broke at pace was exemplary and kept the deficit before half-time to one goal.
Questions still need answering following the escapades in Spain and Pardew’s job remains under severe threat after another defeat. The manager said he will be at the training ground ‘bright and early’ on Monday morning.
Albion’s performance after half-time was encouraging, with the crowd vociferous all afternoon. Yet the wisdom of taking the trip in the days before an FA Cup fifth-round tie will surely be swirling around Pardew’s head. He admitted to not knowing the players ‘socially’ and it backfired spectacularly.
That the jaunt, which sources say was largely relaxation, was planned before the Liverpool tie last month points to the mindset at West Brom right now. They didn’t go to Anfield expecting to win.
Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino revealed such antics would not deter him from planning similar mid-season breaks.
‘I’ve never had any problems,’ he said. ‘Sometimes the manager says take one day off and enjoy it, but the problem is when you are all together you are representing the club and have to be aware about your behaviour.
‘Sometimes they’ve got the right to enjoy themselves. Nutrition is important but sometimes you have the right to eat something you enjoy, otherwise life is too boring.’
Seven points from Premier League safety, whether West Brom’s players had earned the right to enjoy themselves is debatable. Pellegrino could after this, though, with Southampton beginning to stand the test of time. That must embolden him.
As Alex McCarthy’s goal came under siege in the closing moments, Pellegrino may well have thought back to last month. A draw against Crystal Palace was snatched from them with 10 minutes to go; victory at Watford vanished in stoppage time. Those three lost points are the difference between staring at relegation and touching the top half of the table.
Here Southampton stood tall. Bodies were thrown in front of shots, heads cleared certain goals on the line.
Their defensive record under Pellegrino is hardly an aberration by any stretch — 40 conceded in the Premier League — but the steel has softened in vital moments. Not here, though, with the sort of backs-to-the-wall and sleeves-rolled-up defensive rearguard that Southampton have not always produced when it’s mattered.
It is why the word ‘spirit’ was introduced in Pellegrino’s own subtle way afterwards. No prizes for winning away at West Brom, other than another trip north for a quarter-final, but a test passed. And that is all they can do.
‘In the second half it was difficult because they played direct and you need to defend against that,’ Dusan Tadic said. ‘We showed we can do that.’
Tadic showed what his feet can produce, too, sumptuously lobbing Ben Foster on the break after half-time. Tadic’s meagre tally of four goals is also evidence of the profligacy going forward and the speed with which they countered — albeit mitigated by West Brom’s lack of shape — offers inspiration for the away matches to come against those around them.
Guido Carrillo, Nathan Redmond and Ryan Bertrand were all involved in the move before Tadic applied the finishing touch and the move was more reminiscent of previous Southampton teams than this one.
‘It was a nice finish but I am more pleased with our teamwork,’ Tadic said. ‘We will have these kind of teams for the rest of the season. Next we have Burnley, who are also physical, and we need to compete against them.’
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th birthday to former 
