Rigged! 70 years and waiting.
- James
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
So the dust has settled, Marco Bizot's left the naughty corner, and Newcastle have drawn Manchester City in the next round.
The biggest surprise is that Manchester City have drawn a Premier League club so early in the FA Cup; no doubt their lawyers will be feverishly adding that to their list of challenges to the 115 charges.
But what is not a surprise is that if we hadn't been Bizot'd, we'd have had another all Premier League Tie, kind of.
The thing is, it's only really in the 3rd, 4th and 5th rounds of the FA Cup that All Premier League Ties become a thing.
After that, you'll inevitably face strong opposition if you get there, that is, unless you're Manchester City, hence their urgent legal challenge. But it's the prevalence of Villa's draws against Premier League clubs in those early rounds that boggles the mind and sets conspiracy theories racing.
A little look at the history of Villa's obsessive collection of All Premier League Ties:
2023-24
**Villa are drawn in one of five All Premier League Ties in sixteen in the FA Cup 4th Round.**
Ok, it happens, 32 clubs, fair chance.
2024-25
**Villa are drawn in one of four All Premier League Ties in thirty-two in the FA Cup 3rd Round.**
Unfortunate.
**Villa and Manchester United are the only clubs to be drawn in an All Premier League Ties in both the FA Cup 3rd and 4th rounds.**
Now that's really unfortunate, but the company is interesting, hardly rigged.
2025-26
**Villa are drawn in one of four All Premier League Ties in thirty-two in the FA Cup 3rd Round.**
Not again!
**Villa and Manchester United are the only clubs to be drawn in an All Premier League Tie in the FA Cup 3rd round for two consecutive seasons.**
What now?
**Villa are drawn in one of two All Premier League Ties in sixteen in the FA Cup 4th Round.**
Oh, this is getting silly.
**Villa, Brighton and Newcastle are the only clubs to be drawn in an All Premier League Tie in both the FA Cup 3rd and 4th rounds.**
The upstarts, strange?
**Villa are the only club to be drawn in an All Premier League Tie in the FA Cup 3rd and 4th Round for two consecutive seasons.**
So that's 192 balls, and only Villa. Wow.
**Villa and Brighton are the only clubs to be drawn in an All Premier League Tie in the FA Cup 4th round in three consecutive seasons.**
Wow, wow, wow
And now:
Villa would have been drawn (technically) in an All Premier League Tie in the 3rd, 4th and 5th rounds in 2025-26, having also been the only club to have also been drawn in All Premier League Ties in the FA Cup 4th round in three consecutive seasons and also the only club to also have been drawn in All Premier League Ties in the FA Cup 3rd round in two consecutive seasons.
Roll on 2026-27.
70 years and waiting.
Yep, what really frustrates me is it's an on/off button. Won the FA Cup / Didn't win the FA Cup. No context of the massively stark contrast in journeys. I've little doubt that if we'd had half the lower league draws that City have had over the last decade, then we'd have at least one in the cabinet by now.
It is incredibly tiresome and that's before you even begin to talk about all those Man United in the Third Round over the years. Even in the last 10 years Villa over the first two rounds have drawn Man City in 2016, Spurs in 2017, Liverpool in 2021, Man Utd in 2022, Chelsea 2024, West Ham and Spurs in 2025 and now Spurs and Newcastle in 2026. It's ridiculous.