FA Cup could be the undoing of Manchester United

MARCH 7 — For all the talk of reducing Manchester United's lead temporarily, the victories achieved by Chelsea and Liverpool on Tuesday night were probably more significant in helping to keep them comfortably ahead of Arsenal on a night when the Gunners finally found a defence they could score against.

With the win at St James’ Park on Wednesday, MU regained their seven-point lead and still have a game in hand. Some still speak of mathematical chances for Liverpool and Chelsea (and even Arsenal, let alone Aston Villa) but honestly, I think they’re simply lost in the translation from Bahasa Malaysia to English.

I do agree that it’s not over till the fat lady sings but I doubt that Sharifah Aini will be coming out of retirement any time soon. Besides, MU are just too formidable.

Yes, they’re occasionally lucky, but mostly persistent. How else does one explain all those 1-0 victories. It has to be one or the other — plain luck or plain grit!

Just last weekend, after Liverpool lost and Chelsea took over the second spot, one had the feeling that MU were about to confirm their second trophy on English soil this season in the Carling Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday.

That summed up the feeling among most English Premier League fans actually. Though some of us accept it with a great sense of loathing for the impending gloating by typical MU fans, many of whom were probably cheering on Chelsea just three years ago.

It is very rare that the EPL, or even the previous top-flight Division One, had been decided by February. So I suspect it is with that thought in their minds that MU would be approaching this weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final clash with Fulham.

Caution will be the order of the day, what more with a Champions League second-leg clash against Inter Milan on Wednesday night to look forward to.

Having played just three days earlier, and with an important European match to come, one could easily excuse a few of the first-teamers if their performance was to be a bit below par. Hence, I suspect that Alex Ferguson will call on some of the second-stringers, if you can even call them that.

Carlos Tevez, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and John O’Shea are among this group who could easily walk into the first team of many other Premiership clubs.

It will be a difficult game for Fulham, who until Wednesday had lost only once in the league this season, and that was to West Ham United way back in September. But being in mid-table, having the second-best home record after MU, and being able to fully focus on this match would hold them in good stead of getting some result on the night.

My verdict is that Fulham could get a goalless or low-scoring draw against MU. They could possibly beat the Red Devils and start a chain of events which might see MU ending up with just the Carling Cup and EPL come May.

Earlier today, Chelsea travel to the Ricoh Arena to play Coventry City. Chelsea have so far collected maximum points under Guus Hiddink and Coventry should be a walk in the park for the Blues.

With the Nicholas Anelka-Didier Drogba partnership working well, Coventry’s defence — with a home record in the League Championship this season that reads 22 goals scored and 22 goals conceded — will likely be stretched to the limit.

Look out for a high-scoring win for mighty Chelsea who, while having an eye on the Champions League return leg against Juventus in Turin, will still have enough might over the Sky Blues.

The Everton-Middlesbrough tie at Goodison Park could turn out to be a cracker. Relegation candidates Middlesbrough are going to find things hard against an Everton side which has been playing well of late.

Everton, having comfortably seen off Aston Villa in the fifth round, should be confident they’ll go through to the semi-final and fancy their chances on the Road to Wembley for the much coveted Cup.

However, having said that, Middlesbrough should not be taken lightly too. On their day they can easily match Everton.

I wonder which Middlesbrough team will show up? Will it be the one that beat Liverpool 2-0 last Saturday or the team that was given a 4-0 drubbing by Tottenham on Wednesday?

Whichever one turns up, David Moyes will be able to handle them I’m sure.

Incidentally, Arsenal will be playing a fifth-round tie against League Championship side Burnley at the Emirates Stadium. This would be the second time this season that the Gunners have been drawn against the giant-killers.

After having defeated Arsenal at home, they went on to being within minutes of beating Spurs over the two-leg Carling Cup semi-final back in January. But the Arsenal of the Carling Cup is a lot different to the Arsenal of the EPL and FA Cup.

This is a trophy that Wenger would put more emphasis on, despite the trip to Rome on Wednesday. So, I do fancy some first-team players returning from injury to join the other regulars in giving Burnley a run for the money and tasting some sweet revenge for that earlier cup defeat.

Arsenal would then fancy a date with Premiership club Hull City in the quarterfinals. This match at the Emirates Stadium will surely bring back some bad memories for the Gunners based on events earlier this season.

Hull stunned the record books by taking all three points in their first visit to Arsenal in their first season at the summit of English football. So it just might be a case of another opportunity for revenge presenting itself to the Gunners.

I would go so far as to say that with Fulham possible winners over MU, Arsenal might be drawn against them and have a third consecutive match in which to avenge an unexpected defeat to generally weaker opposition.

Yes, I am a Gooner through and through, and my best advice to all you football punters out there is to back Arsenal to go all the way to Wembley and meet Chelsea or Everton in the FA Cup final on May 30.