Reuters
LONDON: The gleaming arch of the new Wembley stadium will beckon for Manchester United and Chelsea this weekend when they start huge favorites in their respective FA Cup semi-final ties.
United, fresh from their 7-1 Champions League demolition of Roma, face Premier League basement club Watford at Villa Park on Saturday while Chelsea, who overturned Valencia on Tuesday, are in action a day later at Old Trafford against Blackburn Rovers.
Watford, bidding to reach the showpiece final for the first time since 1984 when then chairman Elton John famously cried and Everton won 2-0, are virtually doomed to relegation.
However, a resounding 4-1 victory over Portsmouth on Monday, two days after Pompey had de-railed United s title charge with a 2-1 defeat of the Reds, at least sends Watford into the tie with high spirits.
I would have been devastated if we had put up the white flag, Watford s manager Aidy Boothroyd said after the club s fourth league win of the season. It was important to win before an even bigger game on Saturday.
Watford and Manchester United have only met three times in the FA Cup, with Watford winning the last meeting 1-0 in 1982.
Should they pull off an improbable repeat of that result they could well join a band of clubs to reach the Cup final and suffer relegation in the same season, the last of which was Middlesbrough in 1997.
United, winners of the FA Cup 11 times, have loftier ambitions.
With a Champions League semi-final to look forward to and a three-point lead over Chelsea in the title race, Alex Ferguson s side are closing in on the same treble they achieved in 1999.
Chelsea, who won the last FA Cup final to be played at the old Wembley in 2000 against Aston Villa, are hovering like a dark cloud on United s horizon.
Their tenacious chase of United in the Premier League looks certain to come to a head on May 9 when United play the penultimate match of the season at Stamford Bridge.
By that stage the two sides could also be booked in for a Champions League showdown in Athens on May 23 and, should results go to form this weekend, the FA Cup final on May 19.
The three-match series to decide whether United can land a treble or Chelsea, already the League Cup winners, can pull off an amazing quadruple seemed an unlikely scenario but is suddenly looming large.
Since reaching the FA Cup semi-final Blackburn Rovers have suffered a huge dip in form as their chances of qualifying for the Uefa Cup via the league have all but vanished.
Chelsea may have their eyes elsewhere but the FA Cup is the one prize that Jose Mourinho has not won and such is his side s hunger for silverware, it would be hard to bet against them getting past Rovers.
It will not be an easy game because Blackburn will feel they can beat us, Mourinho told the FA s website (www.thefa.com). But I want to be in the final very much and if it is Manchester United, it is Manchester United, or if it s Watford, it s Watford.
