Business end

The nail-biting race for the EPL title takes a mini-breather this weekend as four of the big guns square off in the semifinals of the FA Cup while the rest battle it out for vital league points at the business end of the season.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has all but admitted that the cup represents his team's best chance of ending its four-year trophy drought but to reach next month's final of the world's most prestigious domestic knockout competition, there is the small matter of having to overcome familiar rivals Chelsea first.

Trying to predict the winner of the glamorous all-London fixture is about as hard as it gets. Arsenal are in their best domestic form of the season - 18 games unbeaten - have Cesc Fabregas back in midfield and are once again scoring goals for fun having struggled earlier in the campaign. But have they finally met their match by taking on the heavyweights from the west side of town?

Under Guus Hiddink, Chelsea have only lost once, are physically stronger than Arsenal and have arguably more match-winners. It promises to be a fascinating encounter at Wembley which will be a sea of both red and blue today just as it will 24 hours later when the national stadium is again used for the second semifinal between Manchester United and Everton.

If ever a team deserved a major piece of silverware this season it is David Moyes' Everton who have hovered around the top six for almost the entire campaign, often with only one recognised striker. United, who have won the FA cup more times than anyone else, may have been the side Moyes least wanted when the draw was made for the semis but since then Alex Ferguson's side have looked distinctly vulnerable at the back.

Could this, then, be the best time to play them? On paper possibly but crucially, Everton will be without cup-tied striker Jo who has been a revelation since joining from Manchester City while Louis Saha remains doubtful of playing against his old team.

Everton haven't won a trophy for 14 years, far too long for a side of their tradition, but skipper Phil Neville, almost certain to line up against his brother Gary, has saluted their "unbelievable effort" to challenge for a European spot given the lengthy list of injuries they have suffered.

The Toffees have been beset by injury concerns in all areas of the side for most of the campaign yet as well as reaching the last four of the cup, they are still only a point behind fifth-placed Aston Villa.

"To be honest, I think people are waiting for us to fall now," said Neville. "But you can see the energy in the side and a determination to keep things going.

"The manager has done a great job, making sure we do just the right amount of training, resting us where possible and getting us right for the games."

Of the leading sides, Liverpool are the only ones without a game this weekend as attention switches to those battling to avoid the drop. Middlesbrough's win over Hull last time out gave them a much-needed fillip but that will be rendered redundant if they now lose at home to Fulham.

It is beginning to look increasingly possible that two of the three north-east teams in the EPL could be playing Championship football next season.

Middlesbrough's situation is still perilous while Sunderland, hovering ominously above the bottom three, can't buy a win at present though nor can Hull who visit the Stadium of Light for a massive six-pointer.

It still seems unthinkable that Newcastle will go down but despite taking a valuable point at Stoke last time out, they too are running out of games and will certainly have their work cut out at Tottenham who have suddenly climbed to ninth and are knocking on the door of a Uefa Cup place.

West Ham, Fulham, Manchester City and Wigan are the clubs vying with Spurs to finish seventh and grab that last European spot.

Wigan don't play but the rest do, City hosting all but doomed West Brom, Fulham going to Middlesbrough and West Ham travelling to Aston Villa.

Wigan and Fulham, two unheralded teams with modest budgets, deserve particular praise for how far they have come but Fulham manager Roy Hodgson, whose team trails seventh-placed West Ham by a single point going into the weekend, believes Europe would be a tough ask for his team.

The writer is a soccer expert based in England.