Key events
Louise Taylor
As Leeds travel to West Ham for an FA Cup quarter-final both teams could arguably do withoutone thing is not in doubt: Daniel Farke knows how to read a balance sheet. As the holder of an MA in economics and a diploma in sporting directorship, the Leeds manager needs no reminders that, financially, avoiding relegation is infinitely more important than trying to win the FA Cup. “The Premier League’s our bread and butter,” he said on Thursday . “It’s our priority.”
There is, though, another side to Farke. Away from the training pitches at Thorp Arch, one of the German’s preferred ways of switching off is to spend hours reading on his sofa, transported to different worlds through his love of literary fiction. His favourite novels include Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Given Farke fully appreciates the best managers are, in a different context, similarly expert storytellers, can he resist pursuing a plot line that may just conclude with a survival and Cup glory double? Achieve that and the Elland Road hierarchy would find it very hard to resist furnishing the 49-year-old with the new contract he craves.
Preamble
And then there were five. Manchester City, Chelsea and Southampton are through to the FA Cup semi-final; either West Ham or Leeds will join them this evening.
There’s been a slightly strange build up to this game, with the focus as much on the Premier League – both teams are in a relegation battle and will meet on the last day of the season – as the FA Cup.
When the game starts, that should all go out the window. The historical context makes this a seriously big game. West Ham haven’t played in an FA Cup semi-final since 2006, Leeds since 1987. In that context, this match is kind of a big deal.
Kick off 4.30 p.m.
