Teams from all over England and Wales compete for the FA Cup this weekend

There is a long weekend of English FA Cup 5th Round matches, starting on Friday 28th February when Aston Villa take on the only Welsh team left in the competition, Cardiff City at Villa Park.

On Saturday, there are a further four FA Cup matches.

The Etihad Stadium and Manchester City welcome Plymouth Argyle who are currently flirting with relegation from the Championship. But following the departure of Manager Wayne Rooney, they are showing some consistent form, including beating Premier League leaders, Liverpool 1-0 in the last round of the cup, and thrashing Millwall 5-1 in a league match. Millwall will be trying to put that result behind them as they travel from south-east to south London where they play Premier League Crystal Palace.

Two Championship sides will battle it out to be crowned the pride of the north-east, at least for a day, as Preston North End host Burnley. And the south coast will be represented by Bournemouth, who are currently 7th in the Premier League, who host Wolverhampton Wanderers from the Midlands, who are currently in 17th position and currently fighting a very real battle against being relegated from the most watched football league in the world.

On Sunday, the North-east will be represented by Newcastle United as they welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to St. James’ Park; and the currently holders of the FA Cup Manchester United will play host to Fulham.

The final match of the FA Cup 5th Round will be played on Monday 3rd March with Ipswich Town travelling to fellow Premier League team, Nottingham Forest.

All the FA Cup games will be available to watch online as will the draw for the Quarter Finals.  

It is hard to see Manchester City not beating Plymouth at home and remaining the favourites to win this season’s English FA Cup, after being runners-up last year, losing 2-1 to arch rivals, Manchester United.  But if United were to retain the cup this season, they will equal the current record held by Arsenal for winning the coveted FA Cup competition 14 times.