That’s that then. The ties will be played on Saturday 23 April and Sunday 24 April.
Updated
Everton v West Ham or Manchester United
Which means it’s Everton v West Ham or Manchester United in the other semi.
Crystal Palace v Watford
Palace are first out of the bag, swiftly followed by Watford.
Heston is joining in for the draw.
Here we go then. A reminder of the key numbers:
1 Crystal Palace
2 Everton
3 Watford
4 West Ham or Manchester United
Draw time! Chappers and Jermaine Jenas are standing by, with a selection of fans standing awkwardly next to them.
Alex and Matt are now chatting with some other celeb types about sailing for Sport Relief. They’ve raised lots of money, which is A Good Thing.
Spoiler alert! These are the possible permutations folks:
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Everton v Palace and West Ham/Man Utd v Watford
- Watford v Palace and Everton v West Ham/Man Utd
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West Ham/Man Utd v Palace and Everton v Watford
“I agree that there’s no team to be avoided nor to be hoped for in draw,” writes Mike MacKenzie, “but I want an Everton v Watford final so please arrange to keep them apart in semis.”
Don’t worry Mike: I’ll get the old hairdryer on the balls forthwith.
As has been the way this season, the Cup draw (sigh) is in the middle of the One Show. Currently top cook Heston Blumenthal is serving some beef – it is, report One Show hosts Alex Jones and Matt Baker, very nice.
Shame. Ah well, the supporters of Crystal Palace, Everton, Watford and West Ham/Manchester United won’t be too concerned with that just now. This is a it of a unique semi-final draw in that there’s no team everyone wants to avoid, and no team everyone wants to get.
Last year Reading were the team everyone wanted to draw, Arsenal the one the rest wanted to avoid. In 2013-14, again everyone wanted to dodge the Gunners and take on League One Sheffield United. But this time around? Would Watford rather play Crystal Palace than Everton? Perhaps. Would Everton like to avoid the winners of Manchester United v West Ham? Maybe. To my mind it’s wide open. And that should make for a absorbing climax to the competition.
Hello all. Wemberlee, Wem-ber-lee! We’re the famous [INSERT TEAM NAME HERE] and we’re off to Wemberlee. Yes, it’s FA Cup semi-final draw time, folks, and that means – rightly or wrongly – that four clubs are indeed off to the national stadium.
Speaking of which, how stupid was it to demolish Wembley’s towers? How was that allowed to happen?
Imagine those, restored, flanking the walk up Wembley way:
John will be here shortly, with the draw set to butt into The One Show at 7.20pm GMT. In the meantime, your big-money balls:
1 Crystal Palace
2 Everton
3 Watford
4 West Ham or Manchester United
Updated
