Ighalo’s Manchester United To Face Chelsea In FA Cup Semi-finals

Manchester United will play Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley while Arsenal will play holders Manchester City.

Both ties will be played at Wembley on the weekend of 18 and 19 July.

The final is scheduled for Saturday, 1 August at the same venue.

The semi-finals feature three of the most successful FA Cup sides, with Arsenal winning the trophy a record 13 times. All four teams have also won the past four editions of the trophy: United in 2016, Arsenal in 2017, Chelsea in 2018 and City in 2019.

United, who beat Norwich in extra time to reach the last four, have won it 12 times, while Chelsea, who edged past Leicester in the quarter-finals, have eight wins.

City beat Newcastle United to book a Wembley date with Arsenal.

The tie between the Red Devils and the Blues will be the fourth encounter between both sides this season with United winning the previous three – two in the league and one in the League Cup.

However, Chelsea beat United in the 2018 final in Antonio Conte’s final season in charge.

The encounter represents a chance for Frank Lampard to finally get one over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and keeps hopes alive for a trophy to mark his first season in charge of the Blues.

For Arsenal, the FA Cup is their only chance of a trophy this season and represents their best chance into Europe with qualification through the league looking increasingly unlikely.

But in Pep Guardiola, Gunner boss Mikel Arteta comes up against a man still smarting from City’s poor title defence and for whom retaining the FA Cup will mean a measure of domestic success.