Crystal Palace will face either Liverpool or Bolton at Selhurst Park in the fifth round of the FA Cup after beating Southampton on the weekend.
The draw controversially took place on the One Show on BBC One with host Alex Jones and Match of the Day front-runner Gary Lineker taking care of proceedings. The Eagles were the first team to be drawn out of the bowl with Lineker drawing out the South London side.
After defeating Southampton on Saturday in fine fashion by coming back from behind twice to win 3-2 at St Mary’s, Palace fans were looking forward to seeing the less complicated side of the draw after many FA Cup upsets this weekend with Chelsea and Tottenham heading out and Manchester United and Liverpool struggling against lower league opposition but as many didn’t predict, the other side of the draw was in their hands.
It won’t put off many though as since the Eagles returned to the Premier League last season, the club have managed to pick up marvelous results against Brendan Rodgers’ side with a win already in the history book this season, being one of Neil Warnock’s proudest moments during his second stint at the club before being sacked before Christmas.
On the other hand, Crystal Palace last faced Bolton in 2013 during the clubs’ magical promotion season when the Eagles went undefeated against former Palace manager Dougie Freedman’s side (at the time). At Selhurst Park, Alan Pardew’s team have beaten Bolton on nine occasions and have only tasted defeat three times with the last and only FA Cup fixture at the South London ground seeing a 1-0 win in the fourth round.
Palace fans will have to wait to find out who they will face in their first attendance of the fifth round in the FA Cup for five years as Liverpool and Bolton will fight out a visit to Selhurst Park next Wednesday.
