There have been two all-Merseyside finals, in 1986 and 1989, in the 151-year history of the FA Cup, but never an all-Manchester one – will that change this year?
“My 606 co-host Robbie Savage wants a Manchester City versus Manchester United final because he thinks it will be good for football,” said BBC Sport’s football expert Chris Sutton ahead of this weekend’s semi-finals.
“But I don’t think like that. United have to earn their place in the final, and they have to get past a Brighton side that I love to watch.”
As well as the FA Cup semi-finals, Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches this season, against a variety of guests.
For all of this weekend’s fixtures he is up against Chris Batten, bassist in rock band Enter Shikari and a QPR fan.
Enter Shikari’s new album, A Kiss For The Whole World, is out on Friday. They have just finished a tour of the UK and play their next set of shows in the United States in May.
Batten followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather to support QPR, who were last in the top flight in 2015 and will have to wait at least another year to return – with a terrible run of form in the Championship having seen their promotion push turn into a relegation fight.
“The thing that I’ve found most upsetting is that we don’t seem to be creating any chances in games,” Batten told BBC Sport.
“I don’t mind losing if we have made a few chances, but it doesn’t even feel like we are doing that, and you can just see the points gap to the bottom three getting closer and closer every week.
“This happened last season as well, when we dropped from second to below mid-table in the space of about 12 games, so it has been two seasons now featuring an utterly abysmal collapse.
“This time has been worse, though, and it has been hard to watch – I am getting more joy from watching St Albans City at the moment.”
The National League South club are the hometown team of Enter Shikari, who have sponsored their shirts since 2020.
“Growing up, I was passionate about two things; football and music,” Batten said. “When I was a kid my parents wanted to keep me busy during the holidays so I was always signed up to the Saints’ Soccer School that the St Albans players ran back then.
“So it’s brilliant to have this connection now, and it has kind of come full circle.
“Saints chairman and co-owner, Lawrence Levy, called me and said how the club works closely with local schools and the community in St Albans, and how he knew Enter Shikari was constantly making charitable donations in the area and doing whatever we could to give something back.
“He thought there was no reason why we couldn’t do all of that in collaboration and that was the basis for everything that has happened since, to raise awareness of the club and bring more kids into football and music, improving their lifestyles and offering opportunities through community outreach programmes.
“I remember the first game I went to when they had the band’s name on their shirts. It was such a lovely moment, and I didn’t realise how proud I would be.”
Source – BBC Sport
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