Manchester City set up a titanic FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United with a battling 1-0 win over Championship side Reading at Eastlands on Sunday.
City reached the last four for the first time in 30 years after scoring the only goal of the match when Micah Richards headed home a corner after 74 minutes.
Stoke City ended an even longer wait to make the semis for the first time since 1972 when they beat West Ham United 2-1 at the Britannia Stadium.
They will face Bolton Wanderers, who beat Birmingham City 3-2 on Saturday, when United made sure of their place with a 2-0 win over Arsenal.
City were made to battle all the way by League One side Reading, who defended superbly against Roberto Mancini’s expensively assembled team.
Mancini said his team looked sluggish after travelling to Ukraine for a Europa League game on Thursday which they lost 2-0 to Dynamo Kiev.
“It is impossible to be fresh at this moment, we played in Kiev three days ago and got back in the night,” he said. “It is impossible to be at 100 per cent.”
Stoke, who have been competing in the FA Cup for 128 years and have never reached the final, went ahead after 12 minutes when Robert Huth rose above the West Ham defense to powerfully head home a long thrown from Rory Delap.
Frederic Piquionne equalized for the Hammers with a controversial goal as he appeared to control the ball with his arm in the build-up.
Former West Ham winger Matthew Etherington had a 47th minute penalty saved after he was adjudged to have been tripped by Scott Parker, before Danny Higginbotham smashed a 63rd free kick through the West Ham wall for the winner.
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