DEVOID of shocks, the weekend’s FA Cup quarter-finals saw the four expected teams progress: Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham will make up the final four in this year’s competition.

CHELSEA CRUISE PAST BLUES

Chelsea, the current holders, presided over a 5-0 demolition of Birmingham City, the league’s bottom-placed side, at Kingsmeadow yesterday.

Captain Magda Eriksson opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time and Drew Spence, Beth England and Niamh Charles increased their tally to five in the second half with England bagging a brace.

Despite holding on well for most of the first half, Birmingham were their usual selves and paled in comparison with the might of the rotated Chelsea side.

Emma Hayes’s team were strong throughout but the real moment of magic came with their third goal, when Ji So-Yun and Spence cut apart the visitors’ defence before the latter backheeled to England to tap in to an empty net.

CITY PUT EVERTON TO THE SWORD

In the only other all-WSL clash, City comfortably sailed past Everton on home turf yesterday, putting four goals past them across the 90 minutes.

Blues goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck might as well have stayed in the changing rooms as Everton failed to register even a single shot on target, mainly keeping 11 players behind the ball in an attempt to prevent City from gaining space.

But that didn’t work, and Lauren Hemp was at hand to tap in the game’s first in the 35th minute before following it up with an excellent backheeled flick to convert Caroline Weir’s corner early in the second half.

Weir seems to be creating a goal-of-the-season competition all by herself, and her strike was one of the best she’s produced in a long time. Picking up the ball 25 yards from goal, she rifled into the top-right corner with placement so accurate that keeper Sandy MacIver never had a chance of saving it. Ellen White then made it four in added time in a bad day for the blue half of Merseyside on the whole, with the men’s and women’s teams losing by combined 8-0 across their respective matches. 

After losing so comprehensively, at least that game is behind them. Well, at least until Wednesday, when the teams meet again in the league. The Toffees will be looking forward to that one.

HAMMERS AVOID POTENTIAL BANANA SKIN

West Ham, meanwhile, did what was required to set aside third-tier Ipswich Town, with Lisa Evans’s goal the only one across the 90.

It has been a good cup run for the well-supported East Anglian side, and about 2,000 supporters were in attendance to see their quarter-final. With numerous players in the England youth teams, they’re worth keeping an eye on for the future.

The Tractor Girls aren’t just any third-tier side: they’re one who could have provided a serious banana skin for the Irons. 

Evans’s goal proved to be the difference, but this was the game won by the smallest margin in the quarter-finals. The future looks good for Ipswich.

ARSENAL DISMISS RESURGENT COVENTRY

In Friday night’s tie, Arsenal beat Championship Coventry United 4-0 in a result that was to be expected.

But it’s difficult to talk about Coventry without mentioning what they’ve had to go through this season — and how their mere existence is something to be pleased about.

Just before Christmas, the club went into liquidation with players being made redundant. An investor, Lewis Taylor, who also sponsors Wolves’ women’s team, stepped in at the 11th hour to save the club, but they’ve still had to accept a points deduction.

They will probably drop down to the third tier, sitting on only a single point after the deduction, but the future could be more positive with good owners at the helm.

DRAW DETAILS

Semi-final ties will be played on the weekend of April 17, while the draw takes place today, broadcast live on BBC News at 6.30pm.