United’s FA Cup opponents over the years

United’s FA Cup opponents over the years

Leicester City will play their first-ever Old Trafford Emirates FA Cup tie against Manchester United this evening (Friday).

The Foxes have competed in a game in the competition at the Theatre of Dreams before, drawing 0-0 with Liverpool in the 1974 semi-final.

However, this was the first occasion we have been paired with the East Midlands outfit for a home clash in the world-famous competition.

Our other three meetings took place at Wembley (the 1963 final victory), Filbert Street (a 2-1 triumph in 1976) and the most recent encounter, a 3-1 quarter-final loss in 2021, during the Covid pandemic.

United have only faced one current Premier League club fewer times in the FA Cup than the three occasions we have come across Leicester.

Brentford are the team in question, as we’ve drawn them twice in the past, and both games took place before the Second World War. There was a 7-1 victory at Old Trafford in 1928 and, 10 years later, a 2-0 reverse at Griffin Park, the Bees’ former home.

Hopefully it’s not an omen but Bobby Reid scored the second goal in that fixture, and Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side look set to include Bobby De Cordova-Reid in their squad tonight!

The other sides in the current top flight that have never met the Reds in an FA Cup tie at Old Trafford are, rather surprisingly, Newcastle United and Crystal Palace.

Our four games against the Magpies in the competition have been held at Bramall Lane, St James’ Park, Wembley (the 1999 final) and the Millennium Stadium. The north-east outfit have turned out at the Theatre of Dreams though, against other opponents, in semi-finals in both 1998 and 1999.

We’ve met Palace in the final in both 1990 and 2016, in addition to the 1995 semi-finals, but have never been paired with them at an earlier stage.

Out of interest, the highest-ranked team in the latest standings to never face United in the FA Cup are Wycombe Wanderers, with the League One promotion chasers heading to Preston North End for a fourth-round tie at the weekend.

FA CUP GAMES AGAINST UNITED

Arsenal: 17
Aston Villa: 13
Bournemouth: 6
Brentford: 2
Brighton & Hove Albion: 8
Chelsea: 17
Crystal Palace: 5 
Everton: 13
Fulham: 15
Ipswich Town: 4
Leicester City: 3
Liverpool: 19
Manchester City: 11
Newcastle United: 4
Nottingham Forest: 7
Southampton: 15
Tottenham: 16
West Ham United: 14
Wolves: 11

Data courtesy of www.mufcinfo.com.

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