THERE were some eerie similarities between the FA Cup fifth-round draw and the dress rehearsal earlier in the day.
That’s according to TNT Sports commentator Darren Fletcher, who hosted the draw before Macclesfield’s clash with Brentford at Moss Rose.
The first coincidence emerged with the very first tie, as pundit Karen Carney pulled out Fulham to host Southampton.
Host ‘Fletch’ interjected on the live broadcast: “I’ll just tell you something, when we did the rehearsal earlier today, Fulham were the first ball out then as well, so history’s repeated itself!”
Later on, when Leeds and Norwich were picked out for a showdown at Elland Road, Fletch bizarrely revealed it was a carbon copy of the tie they’d drawn earlier.
He said: “Let me tell you something else – that came out in the rehearsal too this afternoon!”
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FA Cup fifth round draw in full as Arsenal face Prem giant-killers
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With several of the big guns left until later in the draw, it looked as though fans could be treated to a couple of heavyweight match-ups.
But most of the front-runners dodged each other – Manchester City‘s trip to Newcastle being the standout fixture in terms of quality.
Arsenal face an intriguing away tie at giant-killers Mansfield, who have already toppled Sheffield United and Burnley this season.
And there is also a Hollywood clash between Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s Wrexham and cash-rich Chelsea at the Racecourse Ground.
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FA Cup fifth round draw in full
Here is the full list of fifth round ties…
Fulham vs Southampton
Port Vale/Bristol City vs Sunderland
Newcastle vs Manchester City
Leeds vs Norwich
Mansfield vs Arsenal
Wolves vs Liverpool
Wrexham vs Chelsea
West Ham vs Macclesfield/Brentford
Carney and Fletch were joined by Chelsea hero Joe Cole and Ally McCoist to determine the fifth-round fixtures, which will be played around the weekend of March 7 and March 8.
The last two FA Cup winners – Manchester United and Crystal Palace – have both been knocked out already.
United were beaten at home to Brighton during Darren Fletcher’s brief stand-in reign last month.
And Palace suffered a shock defeat to Macclesfield, who produced one of the FA Cup’s greatest-ever upsets at Moss Rose in January.