The prospect of this season’s FA Cup final returning to Wembley appears to have increased and the eight quarter-finalists will be going all out this weekend to make sure they are in the hat for the semi-final draw.
Only one tie, however, is being played on Saturday, the tea-time clash between Middlesbrough and Manchester United at the
Boro, under Steve McClaren, knocked United out of the competition in 2001/02 and Gareth Southgate’s side have shown enough good form recently to suggest they could spring a surprise.
The Teessiders have lost only once in their last 14 games in all competitions as they have consolidated after a dodgy start to the season.
But despite their good form, United remain a formidable obstacle.
The Red Devils are sweeping all before them this season and even when they are not playing particularly well, like against
United are also on course for the Barclays Premiership, holding a nine-point lead over Chelsea and in case Middlesbrough forget, the Old Trafford side gathered three points at the Riverside with a 2-1 win at the end of last year.
They won’t like it but we think the visitors may have to settle for a draw and another replay to add to their congested fixture list and so we will take Betterbet.com’s 5/2 for the side to be level after 90 minutes.