2024/25 FA Cup draw review: Fifth round matchups

Jonathan Victoria • 11 Feb 2025 Features

The details on the FA Cup fifth round draw.

2024/25 FA Cup draw review: Fifth round matchups

FA Cup magic strikes again in the fourth round as one of England’s powerhouses are dumped out by an inferior opponent. You really do love to see it.

With that, the fifth round beckons, and the matchups have been decided via the draw as usual. Take a look at the competition so far and the results of the FA Cup fifth round draw.

2024/25 FA Cup fourth round results

Let’s get the big one out the way first - Liverpool being beaten by Championship strugglers Plymouth, who currently occupy the very bottom spot of the second division table.

The Reds can’t even defend themselves by claiming to have fielded a complete U21 side. They started with Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa up top. A very potent offence any other day but were simply incapable of producing a goal. Plymouth did stupendously well to hold onto their one-goal lead in their fairness, but an incredibly unexpected result.

Southampton were also unable to escape the loss against their opponent from the league below, although with the state of the Saints this year, a loss to Burnley isn’t all that surprising. The two will probably be trading places in the Prem and Championship for the next few seasons anyway.

Newcastle and Manchester City both narrowly escaped with their place in the next round against their League One opponents.

Defending champions Manchester United also left it late - very, very late for that matter - to find the winner against Leicester, coming from behind to snatch the win via the big forehead of Harry Maguire in the dying moments.

In the other all-Prem matchups, Brighton came from behind against Chelsea to win and send themselves through, as did Aston Villa, who piled more misery onto Tottenham from the very first minute. Bournemouth also downed Everton with clinical efficiency (and some aggression).

Here are the full results from the FA Cup fourth round:

Plymouth Argyle 1-0 Liverpool
Manchester United 2-1 Leicester City
Aston Villa 2-1 Tottenham
Brighton 2-1 Chelsea
Birmingham 2-3 Newcastle
Leyton Orient 1-2 Manchester City
Southampton 0-1 Burnley
Doncaster 0-2 Crystal Palace
Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Wolves
Leeds 0-2 Millwall
Coventry 1-4 Ipswich
Everton 0-2 Bournemouth
Wigan Athletic 1-2 Fulham
Stoke 3-3 Cardiff (Cardiff won 4-2 on penalties)
Preston North End 0-0 Wycombe (Preston 4-2 on penalties)
Exeter City vs Nottingham Forest (to be played)

Results of the 2024/25 FA Cup fifth round draw

The fifth round draw came oddly during The One Show on BBC One, taking place 15 minutes into the show at 7:15pm and prior to the kickoff for Doncaster vs Crystal Palace.

Here is the full list of matchups for the fifth round:

Preston North End vs Burnley
Aston Villa vs Cardiff City
Crystal Palace vs Millwall
Manchester United vs Fulham
Newcastle vs Brighton
Bournemouth vs Wolves
Manchester City vs Plymouth Argyle
Exeter City or Nottingham Forest vs Ipswich

Newcastle vs Brighton is certainly the highlight game in our opinion and should provide an interesting affair.

Man United will most definitely have their guard up against Fulham. They barely got by Leicester, who currently occupy a spot in the bottom three of the Prem. Up against Fulham, who are in the top 10 and four places above them in the league, they will no doubt have a tough challenge on their hands.

Bournemouth will favour their home draw against Wolves and will be looking at it as a good opportunity to make their way to Wembley for the first time since 1998 (in a domestic cup competition).

Man City will want to be on their guard against Plymouth, who showed their metal against Liverpool in the round prior.

Next FA Cup draw

The full dates of the next round draw are not yet known and won’t likely be revealed until closer to the time of the fifth round, but you can expect to see the draw come shortly after the final game of the fifth round is played.

2024/25 FA Cup: Round dates

The dates for the upcoming rounds of the FA Cup are subject to change. The ones listed are when they are scheduled to be played, although the actual dates will change depending on teams to ensure there are no schedule conflicts.