FA Cup semi-finals: All you need to know

Places in the final are at stake as Crystal Palace meet Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest face Man City

The FA Cup semi-finals have a very unusual look this season, given they feature only one club that has lifted the trophy during the past 65 years - Manchester City.

Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa last won the FA Cup in the 1950s, while Crystal Palace have never claimed a major trophy.

Here is everything you need to know ahead of Saturday and Sunday's matches at Wembley.

Semi-finalists' history in FA Cup

Crystal Palace v Aston Villa
Saturday 26 April, 17:15 (BST)
Trophy history
Palace are yet to lift a major trophy in their 120-year existence, although they have twice come close, when losing the 1989/90 and 2015/16 FA Cup finals to Manchester United.

The most prestigious pieces of silverware in the club's cabinet remain their trophies for winning England's second tier in 1978/79 and 1993/94, and the 1990/91 Full Members' Cup (a short-lived invitational tournament during English clubs' European ban).

With seven FA Cup triumphs, Villa are level with Man City among this year's semi-finalists. But only one of those successes (way back in 1956/57) has occurred during the last 100 years.

Villa have won the European Cup (1981/82), First Division (1980/81) and EFL Cup (most recently 1995/96) since then, although their last four domestic cup finals (FA Cup 1999/00, 2014/15 and EFL Cup 2009/10, 2019/20) have all ended in defeat.

Meanwhile, head coach Unai Emery's CV is littered with cup-final successes, including the UEFA Europa League with Sevilla (three) and Valencia (one), and both domestic cups in France with Paris Saint-Germain.

2024/25 meetings
Villa have not beaten Palace in three attempts this season, including the EFL Cup fourth-round tie which the Eagles won 2-1 at Villa Park in October.

Palace returned to the Midlands three weeks later in the Premier League and led 2-1 again before being pegged back in a still-creditable 2-2 draw.

Saturday 23 NovemberVilla Park, Birmingham
Aston Villa

2-2

Crystal Palace
Highlights Available

In the return match at Selhurst Park in February, Oliver Glasner's men enjoyed an emphatic 4-1 win.

Tuesday 25 FebruarySelhurst Park, London
Crystal Palace

4-1

Aston Villa
Highlights Available

Recent form
At the start of this month, Palace fans were allowing unlikely thoughts of qualifying for Europe via their Premier League position to enter their heads.

Those aspirations have faded after four matches without a win, including successive defeats at Man City and Newcastle United that saw them ship five goals on both occasions, but they survived a long time with 10 men against AFC Bournemouth and came back at Arsenal to secure draws.

Until their defeat at City earlier this week, Villa had been on a superb run of form, winning 11 of their previous 12 matches in all competitions, with the only loss coming in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain.

Key player
Jean-Philippe Mateta, Crystal Palace: The Frenchman was given an opportunity to rest his legs against Arsenal in midweek, but still found time to score a spectacular equaliser in the 10 minutes he played after coming off the bench. He has netted 17 goals in all competitions this season.

Mateta's equaliser v Arsenal

Marcus Rashford, Aston Villa: Emery's propensity to rotate over recent months makes it tricky to predict his line-up, but it would be no surprise to see Rashford start either on the left or leading the line in place of Ollie Watkins. The Man Utd loanee has put in some notable performances of late.

Nottingham Forest v Manchester City
Sunday 27 April, 16:30 (BST)
Trophy history
Although they have twice won the FA Cup (in 1897/98 and 1958/59), this is Forest's first semi-final appearance in the competition for more than 30 years.

Their last major trophy came in the 1989/90 EFL Cup, with the 1970s and 1980s yielding seven pieces of silverware, including two European Cups.

This season, they have made history as the first team to win three penalty shootouts in a single FA Cup campaign.

Unlike the three other semi-finalists, reigning Premier League champions Man City are accustomed to winning trophies.

City have only gone without major silverware in three of the past 14 seasons - and this weekend marks their seventh consecutive appearance in an FA Cup semi-final.

2024/25 meetings
These two sides have shared the spoils in the Premier League this campaign, with Man City running out 3-0 winners at home in December and Forest triumphing 1-0 in last month's reverse fixture.

Recent form
An unbeaten run of eight matches across December and January gave Forest a buffer in their efforts to secure UEFA Champions League qualification, hence they are still in the top five despite their mixed results of late.

They bounced back from defeats against Villa and Everton to win at Tottenham Hotspur last time out.

Since losing to Forest in early March, City have embarked on their trademark strong finish under Guardiola, stretching their current unbeaten run to seven matches.

An injury-time winner against Villa on Tuesday put them third in the Premier League table - their highest position since November.

Key player
Chris Wood, Nottingham Forest: Enjoying the season of his life aged 33, Wood has 19 Premier League goals so far in 2024/25 and is a big factor in Forest's surprise European challenge. After a club drought dating back to mid-February, combined with a spell sidelined through injury, he returned to the scoresheet in Monday's 2-1 victory at Spurs.

Kevin De Bruyne, Man City: Although not a regular starter this season, the Belgian has made Pep Guardiola's last four Premier League starting XIs. He will be desperate to end his City career with a final trophy after confirming his departure from the club this summer. De Bruyne showed he still retains his abilities with a wonderful showing against Palace earlier this month.

De Bruyne's stunning free-kick v Palace

How FA Cup could affect Europe
The FA Cup winners receive a place in the UEFA Europa League, something of great interest to Palace, who have never played in a major European competition, and Forest, who last played European football in 1995/96.

Man City (third), Forest (fourth) and Villa (seventh) are all hoping to qualify for the UEFA Champions League via the Premier League. Should they achieve that and win the FA Cup, their Europa League place for the latter would be passed to the next-highest team who have not already qualified for Europe.