The West Brom midfielder Olivia Rabjohn and her sister Evie Rabjohn, a defender for Manchester United, had a feeling as soon as they woke up on the morning of the fourth-round draw for the FA Cup: their teams were destined to meet.

Olivia was out when the draw took place, but Evie was on hand to FaceTime and fill her in. The meeting of the two sides on Saturday, though, is somewhat bittersweet. Evie sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury with England Under-19s last July and although her recovery is going well, she is not yet ready to return to the pitch.

Evie, who at 19 is three years younger than her sister, may not have featured prominently anyway but excitement is high. “Lots of family are coming, obviously,” Olivia says. “I know she’s not playing, and I don’t know how many times meeting each other will happen in our careers, but no, it’s good. I don’t get to watch United very often because we play at the same time, and Evie doesn’t get to watch me. So, it’s quite nice in that sense.”

Surely, given Olivia will likely play, there can be no doubt which end their family will be in at Leigh Sports Village, the home of United’s women? “She sorted them a box, so …” trails off a bemused Olivia.

Despite their age gap, their careers took a similar path. “I got scouted for West Brom when I was playing for a grassroots team,” Olivia says, “and then she came along and trained as well, but she was too young to join at the time.” They both tried out for Birmingham City’s academy and got in, and then, when Olivia was 18 and Evie 15, they moved across to Aston Villa’s under-21s. “That’s the first time we nearly played together, because there was a bigger age bracket,” Olivia says. “Then we did pre-season together with the Villa first team.”

That was not easy for the senior of the pair: “I felt it was really difficult. Evie was really thriving as well – she was killing it.”

The pair made their senior debuts together, in a 2-1 loss to Sheffield United in the League Cup in November 2021, but from Villa their paths split. Olivia joined Coventry United in search of minutes before returning to West Brom in July 2024, and Evie signed for Manchester United in 2023.

Olivia has no regrets at dropping down the leagues – West Brom are eighth in the third-tier Northern Premier Division of the National League – and would “100%” recommend it to young players struggling to break into first teams at the top.

“When I was in Villa’s academy of course I wanted to play for the Villa first team. But the chances of getting there are slim; few players make the jump up. It’s been massive getting minutes.”

The game against United is a free hit for West Brom. “It’s massive for us. We’re all dead excited. There’s no pressure on us at all so we can just go out there and enjoy it.”

Mental strength will be important against a full-time professional team who are fitter and technically stronger. “The majority of it’s mental, even in the league,” says Olivia, a left-footed midfielder. “We know how far forward they are compared to us at the minute. We’ve spoken about it. We just have to stick to our principles, stick to what we know, and back each other, and we’ll see how it goes … We’d like to prove what we can do.”

The United game will be West Brom’s first of the year after last weekend’s league match against Derby was postponed owing to the weather. After a solid start, the Baggies have lost their way a little in the league, losing four consecutive games before Christmas. It has been their FA Cup form that has kept spirits high, with three wins to get them to this point.

“We’re being tested against really good opposition in this instance,” says Olivia. “I’m sure we’ll take a lot of learnings from the game on Saturday, and we can use that in the league going forward.”

Has she thought about how she would feel if they pull off an almighty upset? “No, we’ll get to that after the result,” she says coyly. Evie would know all about it, though: “Oh God, yes, she’ll never hear the end of it.”