THE SEAN DAVIS COLUMN

Last week was a disappointing one with those two defeats, but you need to put things into perspective. The lads have been fantastic all season, and there’s going to be times – for every team in the Premier League – when you have an off day. The fact we were so disappointed with how things went against Arsenal, shows how far we’ve come. The best thing for it is to have another exciting game in front of us, and Sunday is exactly that, one of the biggest games the Club has had in recent history.

A lot of people will have been disappointed to see Man United away come out of the hat, but when Portsmouth won the FA Cup in 2008, we beat them at Old Trafford in the Quarter-Final, and then went on to win the whole thing. That’s football for you, it’s unpredictable, and the lads go there this weekend with every chance of getting a result and making history for the Club.

For me, growing up in the 80s, the FA Cup was the only thing you wanted to win, more so even than the league. I still remember watching Wimbledon beat Liverpool in the Final. The FA Cup is such a fantastic tournament, and hopefully we can go there on Sunday and give it our best shot. I think this is a fixture to get excited about. If you’re going to win the competition, you’re going to have to beat the best. The players have been fantastic all season, and this is a great carrot, a great bonus for them, to go there. There’s no pressure on us, nobody outside of the Club is expecting us to win the game, but I fancy us strongly. There’s nothing to fear here. Yes, they’re a great team, they’ve already won a cup this season, but we’ve got to go there believing we can beat them. This current crop of players have got goals in them, they’re normally very hard to beat – Sunday’s game was an exception – and I’m sure they’ll go there and give it everything. The fans should be going there full of optimism, I know I will be – I can’t wait for the game.

Casemiro missing the game through suspension, coupled with João Palhinha’s return to the team, makes the midfield battle very interesting. I’ve talked Palhinha up all season, I think he’s been fantastic, and his return from suspension couldn’t be more timely. I’m sure he’ll want to go there and make up for lost time having missed the last two. United clearly have lots of strength in depth, but there’s no doubting Casemiro is one of the biggest players in their changing room, so hopefully we can capitalise on his absence.

We managed to get to the Semi-Finals back in 2002. Like the current team, we were a newly promoted side, so to have a cup run like that was some achievement. So many teams are spending absolute fortunes, yet it’s little old Fulham in the FA Cup Quarter-Finals. We’ve come up to the Premier League, everyone expected us to get relegated, but we’ve been brilliant from the first whistle. It will be a fantastic achievement if the boys can go there and get a result. Wembley has been very good to us over the last few years in the Play-Off Finals, so hopefully we can get back there again.

Losing that game against Chelsea at Villa Park was probably the most upset I’ve been after a game. Sitting in the changing room afterwards, I just felt like we could possibly have done a little bit more. It was a scrappy game, they scored from a set-piece, and it was devastating as we were so close to playing in an FA Cup Final. Looking back, if we’d managed that then we, as players, would have been in the Club’s history books, and it’s up to these players now to make new history.