1) Hull have first FA Cup final in their sights

Something is growing in the city of Hull and it's not just sales of fake gold jewellery and seething resentment at a football club hierarchy's bid to realise their implausible dream of a black and amber branded wider football world. Far from safe but reasonably placed for Premier League survival, Hull City look to be on the verge of something a bit special and their fans are increasingly full of hope. Having already dispatched Middlesbrough, Southend United and Brighton from this year's FA Cup, the Tigers are now just one eminently winnable match and lucky draw away from an eminently winnable Wembley semi-final against a side from the Championship or League One. At home to a Sunderland team potentially reeling from valiant Wembley defeat and steeling themselves for tougher Premier League battles to come, it's probably safe to say the Hull manager, Steve Bruce, couldn't have picked a better draw if he'd been given his pick of the balls from the official FA tombola. Clearly bitter over the manner in which Sunderland dispensed with his services, ending an association he has since described as "a mistake", Bruce clearly revelled in his side's win at the Stadium of Light a month ago and will be anxious to put one over his old club again in a bid to steer his team a step closer to their first ever FA Cup final. Bruce has been deservedly praised for his astute dealings in the January transfer window, bringing in Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic, who quickly clicked to strike up a winning partnership. And the only blot on a potentially perfect day for the manager? The duo's unavailability for selection as a result of being Cup-tied through previous appearances for other teams in this year's competition. BG

2) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer needs to find a plan – and soon

The bottom two teams in the Premier League go toe-to-toe in a match where defeat is unthinkable and a draw isn't much use to either of them. Immediately above them in the table, Sunderland are on FA Cup duty this weekend and will have three Premier League games in hand over both Cardiff and Fulham by close of play on Saturday. Cardiff have won just once in the Premier League under great Norwegian hope Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, whose ongoing fiddling with formations suggests this apparently deep thinker has yet to hatch a satisfactory plan to save his team from relegation. Fulham have picked up one point since New Year's Day and are managed by a fire-fighting German relegation avoidance specialist in Felix Magath whose blueprint for success famously involves sending his players on very long runs up very steep hills. Discovering how each man goes about trying to win, or not lose, this potential season-ender will be intriguing. Expect tension and snark in abundance, but little in the way of skill. BG

3) City will be in a hurry with Barcelona on the horizon

A repeat of last year's FA Cup final, won so dramatically at the death by Wigan Athletic, pits together a pair of teams with their eyes on bigger prizes. Having swatted Sunderland aside in the League Cup final at Wembley last weekend, despite being rattled by a first-half show of impudence, Manchester City will be hoping to put this Cup tie to bed as early as possible in order to focus on next week's return leg of their Champions League against Barcelona and reducing potential Premier League arrears of nine points by winning their three games in hand. Considering City's sluggish start at Wembley last Sunday, not to mention their embarrassment in the same venue last May, Wigan can probably expect their opponents to come roaring out of the traps in a bid to crush their visitors' resistance and spirit in the early stages. Presumably sated by last year's success and hovering around the fringes of the Championship play-offs, it will be intriguing to see which personnel and how much fight the Latics are prepared to invest in this quarter-final. Despite being on a run of five wins from five games (four of them away from home), this is a match Uwe Rösler may well be inclined to sacrifice for the greater Wigan Athletic good. BG

4) Chris Hughton must throw caution to the wind

Hardly a fortnight goes by without Norwich City seeming to play at least one match on which their manager Chris Hughton's future seems to hinge, but he has thus far held on to his job through a combination of timely victories and what looks increasingly like disinclination on the part of the club board to endure the hassle that would come with having to find a replacement. On a run of four successive clean sheets at Carrow Road against a side who have won just once away from Fortress Britannia in the Premier League this season, Saturday afternoon's game represents another excellent chance for Hughton to bounce back from last weekend's hiding at the hands of Aston Villa. With an end-of-season run-in comprised of matches against Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal, it is games such as this the often overly cautious Hughton simply has to try to win. BG

• Chris Hughton says he is staying put

5) Can Spurs break their Stamford Bridge hoodoo?

The Premier League's top home team* host the division's top travellers in the weekend's big upper-echelons battle. In a positive omen for the visitors Emmanuel Adebayor, their in-form striker, seems to flourish particularly away from home and against Chelsea, having scored only one of his seven league goals this season at White Hart Lane, and three in his last four league starts against the Blues. In a negative omen Tottenham have not won at Stamford Bridge since February 1990, when Paul Gascoigne was the star of their midfield and Erland Johnsen and Tony Dorigo represented the sum total of Chelsea's foreign imports. They have visited fully 26 times since then in all competitions, emerging with 10 draws and 16 defeats. It is now well over a decade since the word "hoodoo" was first used to describe the hold Chelsea hold over Spurs. "The record is going to end some day," says Glenn Hoddle. "When I was a player for Spurs we hadn't won at Liverpool since the year the Titanic sunk. But then one season we went to Anfield and won 1-0, and the following year we went back and won 1-0 again. A lot of it is psychological and [Spurs] need the supporters to arrive with one thing in mind – a win for Tottenham Hotspur and 12 years of punishment at the hands of Chelsea can be wiped out in one fell swoop." Hoddle said that 12 years ago.

*Chelsea have won the most points away from home so far this season. It must be said, though, that having played one home game fewer, on a purely points-per-game basis Manchester City are doing very slightly better. SB

6) The easiest FA Cup run ever?

This season will see the 10th anniversary of Millwall reaching the FA Cup final by seeing off Walsall, Telford United, Burnley, Tranmere and Sunderland (who were in the second tier at the time, and not on their way to promotion either). The Manchester United team they faced in the final had, meanwhile, played Aston Villa, Manchester City, Fulham and Arsenal (and Northampton, to be fair) on their way to the Wembley showpiece. Charlton's Cup run this season has made Millwall's look daunting by comparison. The Championship side have so far played Oxford United, Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday, with Sheffield United their quarter-final opponents. Of their vanquished opponents the Terriers are on paper the best, sitting as they are 13th in the Championship. If Arsenal reach the semi-finals they will have beaten Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton, three of the six best sides in English football, to get there. Such is the glorious injustice of an open draw. The bookmakers predict that Charlton's run will end on Sunday, against the team currently 10th in League One – Sheffield United are in ludicrous form having won their last eight games in all competitions by an aggregate score of 14-1. They haven't so much as conceded a goal for five matches. Charlton, meanwhile, have lost four of their last five in the league. Even if the Addicks win, it would take an improbable upset at the Etihad Stadium and a semi-final success against Wigan for them to come close to challenging Millwall's position as owners of the easiest Cup run in modern history (for statistical completists, the only other teams to have reached the FA Cup final without facing a top-flight side are West Ham, in 1923, Blackpool, in 1948, and Bolton in 1926 and 1953. Of those only Bolton, with a 1-0 win over Manchester City – themselves only notionally a top-flight side, having just sealed relegation – in 1926, have won the pot.). SB

7) Plenty of twists in West Brom soap opera

Another good weekend is in prospect for Manchester United, who having avoided any chance of humiliating defeat last weekend by virtue of not playing, now get to travel to the Premier League's crisis club, West Bromwich Albion. Since winning at Old Trafford in September Albion have tasted victory only twice, most recently on New Year's Day, while losing eight and drawing 11. It is their first match of an odd-numbered month, though, and they have won the last two of those (the other one being against Crystal Palace on 2 November), which isn't much of an omen but is probably the best they've got. James Morrison gave an interesting interview to The Scotsman this week, in the build-up to Scotland's friendly win in Poland. "There just seems to have been a lot of shit going on, really," he said of life at The Hawthorns. "It does feel like a soap opera – you should try being involved in it. It's been one thing after another with managers changing and people getting suspended. It's probably hassle that we didn't need. There was even talk of the new manager going last week." Morrison also said the team "might have been in a better place" had the Baggies not sacked Steve Clarke, who left in December to be replaced by Pepe Mel. West Brom will remain just outside the relegation zone whatever happens this weekend – though Sunderland, a point and a place behind, will soon have two games in hand – but there will surely be a few more plot twists in this soap opera yet. SB

• Credit to FA over Nicolas Anelka's quenelle

8) Tony Pulis prepares to face friendly fire

Southampton's status as the saviours of England football continues to evolve, with James Ward-Prowse making his seventh appearance for the Under-21s this week, three academy starlets starting for the Under-19s in their 3-0 win over Turkey (and another coming on as a substitute), and four Saints named in the full grown-up main squad, of whom both Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana made eye-catching second-half substitute appearances. Tony Pulis might feel a little conflicted about the rise of Lallana, whose sharp turn and precise cross created England's goal on Wednesday. On the one hand, the midfielder is in brilliant form and will by now have turned his focus on to tormenting Palace's defence at Selhurst Park. On the other, he's basically a family friend. Stephanie, the Palace manager's daughter, is friends on Facebook with the full Lallana clan, including the player's mother Sharon, his father David and his sister Natalie, having gone to St Peter's School in Bournemouth with the junior Lallanas (in a further plot twist the school's assistant head teacher, Mike Spackman, is the brother of former Chelsea and Liverpool midfielder Nigel). "Lallana actually went to school with my daughter so we always look at what Adam is doing," Pulis said this week. "He comes from a lovely family and is a very level-headed lad and it is lovely to see him doing so well." Though it would presumably be ideal if he has an off-day this weekend.. SB

• Jason Puncheon fined for Twitter comments

9) A rare sighting at the Emirates

Arsenal have played 426 times in the FA Cup, more than any other side. Along the way they have faced Chelsea 19 times, Liverpool 17 times, Manchester United and Bolton 14 times each, Aston Villa 13 times, Sheffields United and Wednesday 12 times apiece and Newcastle United 10 times. Any team with a long history of reaching the middle to latter stages of the FA Cup, in other words, will probably have come up against Arsenal at least 10 times. Everton have played 415 times in the FA Cup, more than any other side except Arsenal and Manchester United. Along the way they have played Liverpool on 23 occasions, Sheffield Wednesday 19 times, Bolton 12 times, Manchester United, Blackburn and Chelsea 11 times each, Tottenham and Manchester City 10 times, and Aston Villa and West Ham nine times. Any team with a long history of reaching the middle to latter stages of the FA Cup, in other words, will probably have come up against Everton at least nine times. But then the odds are that Everton and Arsenal, given that they have two of the three longest FA Cup records of all, would have played each other much more than most. After all, in the league Arsenal have played Everton 185 times, more than any side except Manchester United. Only Villa, meanwhile, have played more games against Everton than the Gunners. So it's curious that this year they will play in the FA Cup for the first time since 1981, which itself was their first Cup meeting since 1928. In all they have met just three times with FA Cup progress at stake, once in the second round, once in the third and once in the fourth. All three ties were won at the first time of asking by the side drawn at home. There are plenty of other reasons why this match is interesting, with Arsenal's increasing desperation for any kind of silverware burdening every winnable latter-stage knockout tie with epoch-defining gravitas, but perhaps a meeting of Arsenal and Everton in the FA Cup is most notable for its rarity. SB

• Jack Wilshere out for six weeks

10) Too quick on the draw

Forget papaya footballs, inconvenient kick-off times and managers fielding their reserves. The real FA Cup scandal this season has been the scheduling of draws. By the time Manchester City and Wigan kick-off on Sunday afternoon, their potential semi-final opponents will be known. Worse, the sixth-round draw was made before eight of the 16 teams in the fifth round had played. For a competition suffering something of an identity crisis, with even mid-table Premier League clubs now devaluing The Magic of the Cup™, deciding to pull the balls out of the drum on Sunday afternoons is baffling. What was wrong with Monday lunchtime? Without a weekend's worth of action occupying the following morning's newspaper pages, reverting back to Mondays would give the draw more prominence and might just reinstall a little bit of excitement to the Cup. AS