Four matches are on tap when the 2025-26 FA Cup resumes this weekend, but one game above the rest is particularly eye-catching.<\/p>\n
Manchester City hosts Liverpool on Saturday in a battle of Premier League heavyweights, with both clubs looking to inch one step closer to winning English soccer\u2019s oldest club competition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Third-division outfit Port Vale looks to continue its magical run with a win over Chelsea, having already upset another top-flight club in the fifth round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what you need to know about the FA Cup and this weekend\u2019s quarterfinal round.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Single-elimination format: No replays \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
The four matches that make up the quarterfinals are all single elimination and not two-legged, home-and-away affairs. If a game is tied after 90 minutes of regulation time, it\u2019ll go to extra time and penalty kicks (if necessary) to determine the winner.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Traditionally, when an FA Cup match ended in a draw before the semifinals, teams faced each other in a replay at a later date to decide the winner. But starting last season, replays were scrapped during the proper rounds of the FA Cup. Replays aren\u2019t being used again this season.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
UEFA Europa League spot at stake \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
The 2026 FA Cup final will be played at London\u2019s Wembley Stadium on May 16. The winner of the tournament will also earn a place in the 2026-27 UEFA Europa League.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Crystal Palace are the defending FA Cup champions after defeating Manchester City in last year\u2019s final. But Palace won\u2019t repeat \u2014 they lost to Macclesfield F.C. in the third round of this year\u2019s competition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Breaking down the field of teams still alive\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
Six of the eight teams still alive in the FA Cup compete in the Premier League, including current leaders Arsenal, defending champions Liverpool and Manchester City.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Southampton of the Championship (second division) and Port Vale (third division) round out the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Canadian Cyle Larin in action for Southampton\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fresh off an appearance for Canada in the most recent international window, forward Cyle Larin should figure prominently for Southampton this weekend in its home match against Arsenal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Larin, a 30-year-old from Brampton, Ont., is Canada\u2019s second all-time leading scorer (30 goals in 88 games), but has struggled the past few seasons at club level, bouncing between RCD Mallorca and Feyenoord with little success.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The good news is that Larin has been in fine form since his loan move to the English second division with Southampton in January, scoring four goals (including one in the FA Cup) and adding an assist in 11 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLarin\u2019s move to Southampton is exactly what he needed. You can see like now already, his confidence, his rhythm, his fitness, his power, everything, like, he looks really good, so we are really excited,\u201d Canadian coach Jesse Marsch said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The FA Cup quarterfinal round continues when Chelsea welcomes Port Vale to Stamford Bridge on Saturday (12:15 p.m. ET).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Port Vale pulled off a major upset in the previous round when it posted a stunning 1-0 win over the Premier League\u2019s Sunderland to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1954.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A win over Chelsea would be a welcome relief for the Valiants from their problems. Port Vale sits at the bottom of the third division table and will almost assuredly be relegated to the fourth division, barring a late-season miracle. Making matters worse for Port Vale is that Chelsea is undefeated in its last 25 FA Cup matches against lower-division clubs dating back to 2015.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But maybe the third division outfit is catching the Premier League giants at the right time. Chelsea has lost four games in a row across all competitions. One player that Port Vale will have to keep close tabs on is Chelsea\u2019s Pedro Neto. The Portuguese winger is among the top scorers in this season\u2019s FA Cup with four goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Southampton vs. Arsenal\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s FA Cup triple header concludes when Southampton hosts Arsenal at Saint Mary\u2019s Stadium (3:00 p.m. ET).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Arsenal is in the quarterfinals for the first time since they last hoisted the FA Cup in 2020 during manager Mikel Arteta\u2019s first season in charge. The Gunners remain on course to record a treble, as they also sit atop the Premier League standings and have advanced to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The London-based club is dealing with several injured players and given the club\u2019s heavy schedule and upcoming Champions League commitments, Arteta could use Saturday\u2019s match as an occasion to rest some of his starters and rotate his squad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Southampton sit sixth in the second division table, clinging to the last playoff spot for the promotion playoffs as the season enters the home stretch. While the Saints haven\u2019t won the FA Cup since 1976, they have now reached the quarterfinals four times in nine years, and they did beat Fulham of the Premier League in the fifth round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
West Ham United vs. Leeds United \u00a0<\/p>\n
The quarterfinal round of the FA Cup concludes with a second all-Premier League battle between West Ham United and Leeds United at London Stadium on Sunday (11:30 a.m.).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not much separates these two clubs. While West Ham sits just in the relegation zone in 18th place, Leeds sits in 15th, just four points from safety.\u00a0 A crucial match between the clubs on the last matchday of the campaign could determine whether or not they\u2019ll return to the Premier League next season or drop down to the second division.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a while since these adversaries have made it this far in the FA Cup \u2013 West Ham\u2019s last quarterfinal run came in 2015-16, while it\u2019s been even longer for Leeds United (2002-03).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leed might have a bit of an edge based on their 2-1 home win over the Hammers earlier in the Premier League season. But really, this one is far too close to call.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four matches are on tap when the 2025-26 FA Cup resumes this weekend, but one game above the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-582007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}