Women’s FA Cup semi-finals: how to watch Man Utd vs Brighton, Aston Villa vs Chelsea on UK TV - date & KO time

A close quarter-final saw Championship side Lewes lose to Manchester United 3-1 while Aston Villa rocked the boat to beat WSL giants Manchester City 2-1 as they reached the last four. Chelsea were also pushed to a 3-1 win over Reading while Brighton and Hove Albion were able to defeat Birmingham City 2-0.

The four victors will now prepare for the penultimate stage of the competition in the hope of reaching the final in just under a month’s time.

The Red Devils will be taking on the Seagulls and United boss Marc Skinner is not underestimating the challenge ahead of him: “We would love to get to a final, to compete in a final and to win finals going forward. We have a very difficult task ahead of us and this is what I am trying to talk about - the mentality from my group and my players is that we go and hunt any opponent that stands in the way of us and success.

“Brighton specifically will be very tough to play against, so we had better be ready for that. The reality is we are not at the final and (we shouldn’t expect) anything other than a difficult game.”

Here is all you need to know ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final action...

When is the FA Cup semi-finals?

The first of the two FA Cup semi-finals will be between Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday 15 April with kick-off set for 5.15pm BST. The match will be played at United’s Leigh Sports Village with tickets still available to purchase. Tickets cost from £3 to £45 for those wanting Executive Boxes.

The second will be played between Aston Villa and Chelsea on Sunday 16 April with kick-off set for 2.15pm. Villa’s Bescot Stadium will be hosting the match and Villa’s website are still indicating that tickets are available to purchase with tickets cost from £6-12.

How to watch FA Cup semi-finals

Both fixtures will be available to watch on BBC. United vs Brighton will be covered on BBC Sport Website as well as being available to stream on BBC iPlayer while Chelsea and Villa’s match will also be live on BBC One on Sunday.

The streaming service DAZN will also be showing both semi-finals on their platforms while the English FA will be making the action and highlights available on their website and FA player.

Head-to-Heads

Quite coincidentally Manchester United played Brighton while Chelsea played Aston Villa in the last WSL weekend. The Red Devils came away with a 4-0 win over the WSL strugglers while the Blues beat the Villans 3-0.

United and Brighton have come head-to-head on ten occasions altogether with the Red Devils winning seven times, losing once and drawing twice. They have met just once in the women’s FA Cup and the fixture ended in a draw.

As for Chelsea and Villa, the Villans have a 100% losing rate with Chelsea winning all nine meetings. Their last FA cup meeting took place in January 2022 and Chelsea won 3-1.

Team news

Several players will be coming into this weekend off the back of an upsetting night for the Lionesses who lost their first match in 30 fixtures. However, there are limited injury concerns for any of the sides with no fresh injuries reported.

Lisa Naalsund will continue to be out for United with her manager suggesting she will be available for two or three games at the end of the season while both Millie Bright and Fran Kirby will also be made to watch Chelsea from the sidelines as they continue their recovery.