LONDON, 9 March 2004 — Holders Arsenal will play league champions Manchester United while first division Sunderland will meet either first division Millwall or second division Tranmere Rovers in the FA Cup semifinals on April 4.
Arsenal, appearing in the semis for a record 24th time, will meet United at Villa Park, while the other semi will take place at Manchester United’s home ground of Old Trafford.
Yesterday’s draw gave Arsenal the hardest possible obstacle in their bid to become the first club since Blackburn Rovers in 1886 to win the FA Cup three years in succession and the first ever to reach four successive finals.
Sunderland were the last team from outside the top division to reach the final when they lost to Liverpool in 1992, while Millwall and Tranmere will replay next week in their bid to reach the last four.
Millwall, who were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Tranmere on Sunday, are looking to reach the semis for the first time since 1937 while Tranmere have never reached the last four.
The final will take place at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on May 22.
Arsenal and Manchester United are due to meet in a league match at Highbury a week before their Cup tie. It will be the first meeting between the two giants of English soccer since their infamous bust-up at Old Trafford on Sept. 21.
That match ended with six Arsenal players and two United players charged by the FA for the fracas that followed their 0-0 draw.
The most famous FA Cup meeting between the clubs, who have won the cup 19 times between them, came in the 1979 final when Arsenal, 2-0 up with two five minutes to play alllowed Manchester United to equalize at 2-2 — only for Alan Sunderland to clinch Arsenal’s winner with seconds remaining.
Manchester United’s last win over Arsenal in the competition came in a replayed semifinal at Villa Park in 1999 when a Ryan Giggs goal — recently voted the greatest in the competition’s history — gave United a 2-1 win after United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel saved a penalty from Dennis Bergkamp.
Sunderland have only met Millwall once in the Cup — on the last occasion when Millwall reached the semifinals in 1937.
That match took place at Huddersfield’s old Leeds Road ground and Sunderland went on to win the FA Cup for the first time in their history when they beat Preston North End 3-1 in the final.
Sunderland have only met Tranmere — who have never reached the semis — twice in the competition before — and had never met them until 1998 when Tranmere won 1-0 at Sunderland in in a fourth round match.
