So, there you go. There will be one club from the Football League in the semi-finals, Preston or Manchester United will face the holders, Arsenal, and there’s a midlands derby between Aston Villa and West Brom and Liverpool host the Championship’s Blackburn Rovers. Thanks for reading. Jacob Steinberg has all the action from Preston v Manchester United here. Bye!

Aston Villa v West Bromwich Albion

Preston/Manchester United v Arsenal

Bradford City v Reading

Liverpool v Blackburn

Hodgson pours the balls into the drum …

Roy Hodgson introduces himself by saying Bradford deserve enormous credit for getting this far. On the BBC (among other platforms including the video above).

Here we go … live from the Invincible Suite at Deepdale.

The draw will be made by the England manager, Roy Hodgson, and Brian Finney, son of the Preston legend Tom

Here are the numbers!

• 1 Liverpool
• 2 Arsenal
  
• 3 Aston Villa
  
• 4 West Bromwich Albion
  
• 5 Bradford City
  
• 6 Blackburn Rovers
  
• 7 Reading
  
• 8 Preston North End/Manchester United
  

While we wait for the draw, have a read of the Observer’s report from the 1889 FA Cup final, where Preston defeated Wolves 3-0 at The Oval.

An unrealistic request

The rehearsal draw looked a little like this:

• Bradford v Aston Villa
  
• Reading v Blackburn
  
• West Brom v Preston/Man Utd
  
• Arsenal v Liverpool
  

The fifth round has not quite been thrill a minute (yet) and the one mild shock came in the only game not to be televised, but we are here along with these sides for the quarter-final draw …

• Arsenal

• Aston Villa

• Blackburn

• Bradford City

• Liverpool

• Preston North End/Manchester United

• Reading

• West Brom

Speaking from a neutral point of view, is it best to keep the big teams apart or should we pair them together now, meaning not only a big quarter-final to look forward to but also an increased chance of a perceived lesser side advancing to Wembley?

Alan will be here shortly. In the meantime, here are some talking points from the weekend’s FA Cup fixtures:

1) Home comforts provide succour for Arsenal

A sequence of nine consecutive wins, manufactured by scoring 23 goals and conceding three, have turned the Emirates into a source of home comfort for Arsenal. They continued their confident run by swatting aside the challenge from up-and-coming Middlesbrough in the FA Cup and Arsène Wenger sees that as an important foundation for the challenges ahead. For all the value of the cup runs, Wenger quickly turned his attention to the Premier League not long after the final whistle secured his team’s progress to the FA Cup sixth round. “We have plenty of home games. We have some tough opponents here, it’s important we feel strong at home. Liverpool, Everton, Chelsea will be very important games for us.” Monaco are visiting the Emirates in the Champions League next week and Wenger has his eye on another home win as a springboard for the rest of the campaign.Amy Lawrence

• Match report: Arsenal 2-0 Middlesbrough

• Jacob Steinberg’s minute-by-minute report

2) Sherwood looking to bring the best out of Benteke

If there is one player that Tim Sherwood needs to get the most out of between now and the end of the season at Aston Villa it is surely Christian Benteke. The Belgium international has scored only three times in 19 appearances for Villa this season and Sherwood will have seen with his own eyes on Sunday, in the 2-1 win over Leicester City, just how much the striker is struggling for form. It was not only the wayward shot that Benteke blazed over when he ran clear in the second half; his general game, whether holding the ball up or picking the right pass, smacked of a player desperately lacking confidence. Benteke, on his day, is unplayable, as he demonstrated on a regular basis in the second half of his first season at the club. If Sherwood can rebuild Benteke’s belief, in the same way that he brought the best out of Emmanuel Adebayor at Tottenham Hotspur last season, and also set the team up to play to the striker’s strengths, Villa’s chances of staying up will be hugely improved. Stuart James

• Match report: Aston Villa 2-1 Leicester City

• Sherwood praised for his ‘positive impact on dressing room

• Michael Cox: Sherwood’s changes reap reward

• Tim Sherwood makes instant impact

• Gregg Bakowski’s minute-by-minute report

Read the full story here.