Sky Sports’ football writers analyse Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final action with Eberechi Eze and Nottingham Forest’s deadly defensive duo drawing big praise.
Eze magic makes Palace fans dream
Eberechi Eze opened the scoring against Fulham
What a week it’s been for Eberechi Eze. His first England goal on Monday. A goal and an assist to send Palace to Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.
Aside from Jefferson Lerma’s speculative volley, Palace had been struggling to trouble Fulham defensively in the first half. But the swiftness with which Eze cut in off the left onto his right foot spelled danger and the finish was unstoppable, fired in off the far post. Pure class.
His pinpoint cross for Ismaila Sarr soon after put Palace in complete control.
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Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner joked about whether he’ll be wearing a suit at their FA Cup semi-final and commented on how he’d been to Wembley before for Taylor Swift!
Eze’s raw numbers may not be as eye-catching this term – he has two Premier League goals and six assists compared with 11 and four last season – but he’s still electric and his performance at Craven Cottage was a reminder of his quality. With Eze fit and firing, Palace’s FA Cup dream is real.
Peter Smith
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Sky Sports News’ Gail Davis and Peter Smith review Crystal Palace’s comprehensive 3-0 win over Fulham, which saw them progress to the FA Cup semi-finals
Murillo and Milenkovic partnership is special
Nottingham Forest’s Serbian defender Nikola Milenkovic scoring his penalty
Have Nottingham Forest ever had a better defensive partnership than Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic? These two are making history for this football club, leading their charge on what is shaping up to be a season of all seasons for them.
These two are certainly fit to lace Des Walker’s boots.
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Sky Sports’ Gary Cotterill reviews Nottingham Forest’s win over Brighton on penalties, which saw them advance to the FA Cup semi-finals
Third in the Premier League and just two games away from winning a major trophy. What a season they are having.
Matz Sels proved decisive as he saved from Jack Hinshelwood and Diego Gomez to send Forest to Wembley but it was the outstanding work of Murillo and Milenkovic during 120 minutes where defences were on top that provided the bedrock of Forest making their first FA Cup semi-final appearance for 34 years. This was clean sheet number 14 for the season across all competitions for the pairing.
The power and aggression of Milenkovic complements the classy nature of Murillo’s game. Rarely do the pair look flustered – as was shown with Milenkovic’s sublimely taken penalty in the shoot-out that found the bottom corner. They are the best centre-back pairing left in this competition and could just take Forest all the way.
Lewis Jones
Fulham blow their big chance
Fulham’s Timothy Castagne and Crystal Palace’s Eze in FA Cup action
The Fulham fans were singing ‘We’re going to Wembley’ when the teams were coming out for the first half, such was the confidence at Craven Cottage that Marco Silva’s side would march on to the national stadium, 50 years after they made it to the 1975 FA Cup final.
With the draw opening up and Fulham impressing this season, this felt like a great opportunity to underline the progress made under Marco Silva. Their team started with that belief, too, completely on the front foot in the opening part of the game, with Rodrigo Muniz and Andreas Pereira going close.
But across the tie a lack of final-third spark and quality did for their hopes of making the final four.
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Following Fulham’s defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup quarter-final manager Marco Silva believed that midfielder Adam Wharton should have seen red
Andreas Pereira gave the ball away on several occasions in the final third, while Willian and Antonee Robinson were unable to cut through down the left, as appeared to be the gameplan. Silva rolled out his full complement of attacking options but an inability to break through an organised Palace side and defensive lapses – where was the marking for Ismaila Sarr’s header? – proved costly.
A quick reset is required to refocus on a Premier League campaign which could still bring European football. But this is a low, a blow and that long wait goes on.
Peter Smith
The 7-0 factor: Brighton clearly weren’t over it
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Nottingham Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was in buoyant mood after his side reached the FA Cup semi-finals, while Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler felt his side should have won the game in extra-time after they lost on penalties
Fabian Hurzeler said before the game against Nottingham Forest that he’d not mentioned the 7-0 defeat when addressing his players.
Well, perhaps he should have.
Brighton played like a team suffering with severe mental scarring from that harrowing experience at the City Ground in the Premier League.
From the first whistle something wasn’t right about Hurzeler’s team, who had worked so hard and played so brilliantly to get to this stage by beating Chelsea and Newcastle. It should have been an opportunity for them to seize but instead they played with fear and created next to nothing in forward areas until the second half of extra time.
Even including Diego Gomez’s fine headed chance that was spectacularly saved by Selz in the added minutes, Brighton created just 0.9 worth of expected goals in 120 minutes of FA Cup quarter-final action. This wasn’t them. And it was a game the club will look back on with a huge amount of regret.
Lewis Jones
