The Emirates FA Cup semi-finals take place this weekend, with our four remaining teams eyeing a place in the Final.
Head-to-head, ones to watch and Wembley records – here are all the standout stats ahead of this weekend's ties.
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
Aston Villa have won none of their last four matches against Crystal Palace in all competitions (D1 L3), conceding 13 goals. Palace knocked them out of the League Cup earlier this season, with Spurs the only side to eliminate them from both the FA and League Cups in the same campaign in 1968-69.
Crystal Palace have faced Aston Villa three times in the FA Cup and have been eliminated each time, losing 5-0 in the third round in 1912-13, 4-3 in the third round in 1961-62 and 3-1 in a fifth round replay in 2009-10.
Aston Villa have reached the FA Cup semi-final for the first time since 2014-15, beating Liverpool 2-1 to reach the final. They’ve reached 11 FA Cup finals, with only seven teams featuring in more.
This is Crystal Palace’s sixth FA Cup semi-final and they’ve alternated between going out at this stage (1976, 1995, 2022) and reaching the final (1990, 2016) in their previous five semi-finals.
Aston Villa have lost six of their last eight games at Wembley, with this their first since losing 2-1 to Manchester City in the 2020 League Cup final. Their two wins in this run came in 2-1 victories against Liverpool (2015 FA Cup semi-final) and Derby County (2019 Championship play-off final).
Crystal Palace knocked Fulham out 3-0 in this season’s FA Cup quarter-final, having been eliminated in eight of their previous 10 FA Cup ties against Premier League sides. They last knocked out more than one Premier League side in a season in 2015-16, the last time they reached the final (four teams).
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has progressed from each of the four single-legged semi-final cup ties he’s managed in, all with Paris Saint-Germain across 2016-17 and 2017-18 in the Coupe de la Ligue (4-1 vs Bordeaux, 3-2 vs Rennes) and Coupe de France (5-0 vs Monaco, 3-1 vs Caen).
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner is looking to become the first Austrian manager to reach an FA Cup final and Austria would be the first new nation represented by a manager in the showpiece event since Germany in 2021 (Thomas Tuchel for Chelsea).
In domestic cups this season (FA and League Cup), Marcus Rashford has had a hand in six goals (4 goals, 2 assists) for Man Utd and Aston Villa. Since the start of 2016-17, he has been involved in 40 goals in 60 games these competitions (26 goals, 14 assists), more than any other Premier League player. He is yet to score or assist in an FA Cup semi-final, however, in five attempts.
Crystal Palace’s Ismaïla Sarr has been involved in four goals in two starts against Aston Villa this season (3 goals, 1 assist), and in his five starts against Villa in all competitions in his career, he has either scored (5 goals) or assisted (2 goals) in each start.
Nottingham Forest v Manchester City
Nottingham Forest have beaten Man City 1-0 in the Premier League this season, last beating them twice in the same campaign in 1989-90 (2x league, 1x Full Members Cup).
Manchester City have lost four of their five FA Cup meetings with Nottingham Forest (W1), most recently a 3-0 home loss in the third round in 2008-09.
This is Nottingham Forest’s first FA Cup semi-final appearance since 1990-91 under Brian Clough, beating West Ham 4-0 at Villa Park before eventually losing to Spurs in the final.
This is Man City’s seventh consecutive appearance in an FA Cup semi-final, winning three and losing three of the previous six. They’ve won the last two, and are looking to reach the final in three consecutive years for the first time.
This will be just Nottingham Forest’s second match at Wembley Stadium since its reopening in 2007, previously beating Huddersfield 1-0 in the 2022 Championship play-off final. Meanwhile, this will be Man City’s 28th game at the ‘new’ Wembley (as a neutral venue), with only Chelsea playing there more often (30).
Manchester City reached the League Cup final in four consecutive seasons between 2017-18 and 2020-21. They could now reach the FA Cup final for a third consecutive year and would be the first side to reach the final of both major domestic trophies three seasons running.
Nottingham Forest have progressed via penalties in the fourth round, fifth round and the quarter-final of this season’s FA Cup, the first team to have three shootouts in a single campaign in the competition. They also lost on penalties to Newcastle in the EFL Cup, with Chelsea in 2021-22 the only top-flight team to contest five penalty shootouts in a single campaign.
Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espírito Santo could become the second Portuguese manager to reach the FA Cup final after José Mourinho, who beat Manchester United (with Chelsea) in 2007 and lost to Chelsea (with Manchester United) in 2018.
Since the 2021-22 campaign, Ryan Yates has had a hand in eight FA Cup goals in 13 games for Nottingham Forest (4 goals, 4 assists), five more than any other player. He also scored the winning penalty in the quarter-final shootout against Brighton in March.
