Sir Alex Ferguson is on course for his second treble as manager of Manchester United. His side secured a place in the FA Cup final when they beat Watford 4-1 at Villa Park.

United continued from where they left off in their mid week thrashing of Roma. It took Wayne Rooney just seven minutes to open the scoring, emphatically finishing the first chance of the game. Rooney found himself in the clear after Michael Carrick’s through ball was allowed to split a confused Watford defence thanks to movement from Giggs and Smith. Watford reacted and drew level twenty minutes later through an acrobatic effort from Hameur Bouazza.

Watford were not level for long, Cristiano Ronaldo needed just two minutes after the restart to put United back in the lead. An apt wat to celebrate signing a new £30 million deal during the week.

After the interval it seemed that the Watford defence did not come out for the second half, they gifted United a goal when they allowed Smith to stroll through the box and pick out Rooney who scored his second from inside six yards.

Ronaldo was replaced by Richardson who was the scorer of the final United goal. Alan Smith was the provider again, and Richardson lifted the ball over the stranded Watford keeper securing a place in the first cup final at the new Wembley.

The FA Cup Semi Finals are later this week and with Manchester United taking on relegation threatened Watford and Blackburn Rovers plaing Chelsea, it all looks set for a United v Chelsea Final.

If Watford were to use the form book they would be forgiven for thinking that they could beat Roma 14-2 seeing that they beat Portsmouth by double the score that Pompey beat Manchester United by just two day previous. However in reality the Hornets have to compete with some of the world’s most talented players, who managed to embarrass one of Europe’s better sides.

Chelsea who can thank their Russian Billionaire for their recent success, face Blackburn Rovers, the last team that bought the premiership, albeit for a lot less that Roman Abramovich paid. Mark Hughes has a knack of motivating his teams to achieve unexpected results. However the galaxy of stars at Jose Mourinho’s disposal should prove more than a match for the talent that Hughes will field.

So if United beat Watford and Chelsea can dispatch Rovers, the Football Association will have their dream final, between Manchester United and Chelsea. Although the footballing public could be sick of that fixture as the play in the league, and there is the possibility of the two sides meeting in both the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup finals.

Just two days after Portsmouth register an impressive 2-1 victory against league leaders Manchester United, they were thrashed 4-2 at the hands of United’s FA Cup opponents Watford.

The Hornets win over the latest side to overcome this weekends opposition will no doubt boost the morale of the players, especially as they had to fight back from behind to register their largest win in the Premiership for a long time.

Aidy Boothroyd and Watford will have all week to ensure their preparation is as close to perfect as possible. Meanwhile Manchester United have to beat Roma if they are to stay in the Champions League and on course for the coveted treble.

After the replays decided the last two semi finalists would be Chelsea and Manchester United. The Football Association have decided that the FA Cup semi-finals this year will be played at Old Trafford and Villa Park.

The first of the two games will be the fixture between Manchester United and Watford on Saturday 14th April with a kick-off time of 17:30 It will be played at Villa Park and the game will be shown live on the BBC.

The second game will be played at Old Trafford between Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers on Sunday 15th April with a kick-off time of 16:00 with the game being broadcast live on Sky Sports.

The dates of the cup semi-finals clash with the fixture between Manchester United and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge as they were due to play that possible Premiership decider on the 15th of April. They game has yet to be re-arranged and could be the last game of the season.

Having missed the golden opportunity of being the first English club to beat Chelsea in a domestic competition at Stamford Bridge for a few years. The future of Tottenham’s season is up in the hands of the gods. Spurs could face having the same fate as North London rivals, who in the space of eight days were knocked out of all of the competitions they were competing in, effectively ending their season.

Spurs have to win three games in six days if they are to remain on track for their aspirations for this season. All three games are at White Hart Lane, to be in the draw for the UEFA Cup Quarter Finals and Semi Finals they must beat Sporting Braga on Wednesday night.

If they are to compete for a coveted European spot through the league for a second season they will need to get three points at home to Watford, then two days later they face Chelsea in the FA Cup Quarter Final replay providing manager Martin Jol with selection dilemmas. The replay is unusually on a Monday night as the FA does not want to hamper the preparation of Steve McClaren’s England squad ahead of crucial Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Andorra.

Even though they both face tough replays, the possibility of a Manchester United v Chelsea final still remains following the draw for the FA Cup Semi-Final. England goalkeeper coach Ray Clemence drew Blackburn Rovers out of the hat first and they play the winners of the replay between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

Premiership strugglers Watford will host either league leaders Manchester United or Middlesbrough in their semi-final, as they bid for the opportunity in starring in the first cup final to be held in the redesigned Wembley Stadium.

The draw for the Semi-Final in Full:

Blackburn Rovers v Tottenham Hotspur or Chelsea
Watford v Manchester United or Middlesbrough

Looking for the FA Cup Semi-Final Draw?

Rovers were the first side in the hat for Monday’s draw when they dispatched their Lancashire rivals Manchester City in a 2-0 win at Ewood Park. They took the lead through South African Aaron Mokoena. They youngsters day turned from quickly from ecstasy to agony when he was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Matt Derbyshire sealed the win in injury time ensuring his team were in the hat for the draw on Monday. Blackburn were joined by Watford who only just managed to get past Coca-Cola Championship side Plymouth Argyle.

Bouazza scored when his thunderous shot from a Watford short corner flew past Argyle keeper Luke McCormick. The Championship side fought hard and made the Premiership strugglers work for their entry in to the semi final draw.

Looking for the FA Cup Semi-Final Draw?

There will be smiles on the faces of the managers of the big three this afternoon after they witnessed the draw for the quarter-final of the FA Cup sponsored by EON, as they all managed to elude each other again.

Granted Manchester United will have to get past a tricky away trip to Reading in order to face Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium. Similarly Arsenal have to travel to Ewood Park and over come Blackburn Rovers before playing host to Manchester City.

Chelsea have a home tie against Tottenham Hotspur who knocked out their south London neighbours Fulham. The last draw of the round is between two of the countries young managers Ian Holloway of Championship side Plymouth and Aidy Boothroyd of Premiership strugglers Watford.

Sixth round draw in full:
Middlesbrough or West Brom v Manchester United or Reading
Arsenal or Blackburn v Manchester City
Chelsea v Tottenham
Plymouth v Watford

The draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup takes Blackpool or Norwich to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea, there is an all Championship tie between Plymouth and Derby ensuring a lower league team will be in the quarter finals. There is a London derby where Fulham play Spurs at craven cottage.

Bristol City or Middlesbrough will host West Bromwich Albion, while Arsenal or Bolton face another tough tie after their replay when they will be at home to Blackburn Rovers.

 The complete draw is below: 

Chelsea v Blackpool or Norwich
Watford v Ipswich Town
Preston v Manchester City
Plymouth v Derby County
Manchester United v Reading
Arsenal or Bolton v Blackburn
Middlesbrough or Bristol City v West Brom
Fulham v Tottenham

Blackburn enforcer Robbie Savage broke his leg in the game against Watford. He is the second Rovers player to suffer a break this month. It was a second half tackle with Watford’s Al Bangoura that inflicted the injury on Savage.

He was unable to put weight on his leg and was immediately substituted so he could go for scans to measure the extent of the damage. Savage joins the long list of Rovers players in the queue for the treatment table, and provides manager Mark Hughes with a dilemma. Should he try and buy replacements while the transfer window is still open?