Big guns kept apart in q-final draw

LONDON: Four of the top Premier League’s top five were kept apart in Saturday’s draw for the FA Cup quarter-finals as Manchester United host Brighton, whilst Chelsea visit Leicester.

Tottenham Hotspur face a trip to Sheffield Wednesday or Swansea, who need a replay after Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Hillsborough, should Mauricio Pochettino’s men overcome third-tier Rochdale late yesterday.

“It’s a score nobody wants,” said Swansea boss Carlos Carvalhal, whose side are also battling for Premier League survival.

“Maybe in the future, if the managers and referee agree after the first game we can go to penalties, we can finish the game today.”

Brighton cruised into the last eight as fourth-tier Coventry City’s fairytale run came to a crashing end in a 3-1 defeat.

Manchester City continue their quest for a historic quadruple of Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup with a fifth round trip to Wigan today.

Should Pep Guardiola’s men avoid a repeat of the Latics’ shock 2013 FA Cup final victory, City will be at home to Southampton in the last eight.

A week to forget for West Brom was rounded off with an FA Cup exit as fellow Premier League strugglers Southampton won 2-1 at the Hawthorns.

West Brom boss Alan Pardew named Jonny Evans and Gareth Barry in his starting line-up despite the experienced duo forming half of a group of four players questioned by Spanish police this week over the theft of a taxi on the club’s warm weather training trip to Barcelona.

“There was a problem in terms of selection because of the incident to go with my strongest team,” said Pardew.

“I decided to do that. I felt I needed to make a little bit of a statement about the events. I was far from happy over them and made Gareth (McAuley) captain today.”

Q-final Draw: Sheffield Wednesday or Swansea City v Rochdale or Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United v Brighton, Leicester City v Chelsea, Wigan or Manchester City v Southampton. The ties will be played between March 16 and 19.