Look at the four FA Cup semi-finalists.
Is there another team in the land Sunderland supporters could care less about?
Okay, some would add Manchester United to the list and others would exclude Arsenal and/or Spurs, even Man City, since all three have some neutral admiration (for different reasons). Chelsea, in that respect, are perhaps in a league of their own even though it is difficult to dislike Antonio Conte or not to admire his side’s romp towards another Premier League title.
So let’s have another special Guess the Score. The games are a long way and there will be reminders of, and updates on, this competition.
This weekend, when there’s no men’s football worth mentioning, Sunderland Ladies play their SSE Women’s FA Cup quarter-final tie at Chelsea. Monsieur Salut is happy to confess that the results of the two FA Cup semis next month will feel a lot less important than how our lasses get on.
And we do, of course, care very much about Bradley Lowery and the plight of all sick children in our cash-starved NHS.
Back to the comp. Be one of the first three readers to get the two scorelines right and you’ll receive a mini-version of the Nick Barnes Matchbook, knowing that the publishers will put £5 into the Bradley fighting fund for each winner.
If you support someone other than SAFC, and don’t really want Nick’s artistic pre-match notebook, I will arrange a suitable mug provided you undertake to pay a fiver into the fund via Just Giving.
Over to our readers …
Chelsea 1 Spurs 1 (Spurs AET).
Arsenal 2 Man City 1.
Spurs 2 Arsenal 2 in Final. Spurs on pens.
Chelsea 1 Tottenham 2
Arsenal 0 Man City 1
I have vivid memories of our win in 1973. I was ten and the whole town seemed caught up in cup fever. I went to every home game in the cup run.