Man City favourites, but FA Cup door wide open for seven others

LONDON : Manchester City are favourites to win this season's FA Cup and salvage something from a troubled season but the seven other clubs left in a wide-open draw may never have a better opportunity to win the trophy.

None of the five most successful clubs in FA Cup history - Arsenal, holders Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur or Liverpool - are in the quarter-finals.

City, who travel to Bournemouth on Sunday, won the Cup for a seventh time two years ago but of the other teams in this weekend's quarter-finals, the most recent winner is Nottingham Forest who went all the way in 1959.

The combined FA Cup triumphs of the eight clubs left is 18 - the lowest since 1997 - and seven of those were for Aston Villa who have not won it since 1957.

Second-tier Preston North End, who host Villa on Sunday, are statistically the third most successful FA Cup team left but 1938 was the last time they lifted the trophy.

Action begins on Saturday with a London derby between Fulham and Crystal Palace, two clubs who have never won the FA Cup or any major silverware for that matter.

Fulham reached the final in 1975 while Palace have made two finals, losing to Manchester United in 1990 and again in 2016.

A cracking atmosphere is expected at Craven Cottage as the evenly-matched Premier League rivals seek a semi-final spot.

Saturday's later game sees Brighton & Hove Albion, whose one FA Cup final appearance was in 1983, host Forest.

Like Forest, Brighton are also chasing European qualification through the Premier League and they will be keen to avenge a 7-0 league hammering against Nuno Espirito Santo's team at the beginning of February.

Brighton are unbeaten since then and Fabian Hurzeler's in-form side are tipped to make him the youngest