Derby replay could cause cup ticket chaos

The sides would have to wait a month for their last-eight replay if Saturday's initial clash ends all square.

And that could leave the eventual winners with just 10 days to sell 35,000 tickets for a Wembley semi-final on April 18 or 19.

Fans will be forced to wait until April 7 for the replay if the rivals cannot be separated on Saturday.

The obvious replay dates of March 17 and 18 are unavailable because of an agreement between the FA and UEFA not to pit televised Cup matches against Champions League fixtures.

And both Villa and Albion have rejected an FA offer to schedule the replay for Monday, March 16, as it would come too soon after their Premier League fixtures two days earlier.

The following two weeks are out of the running because of the March international break, leaving April 7 as the chosen replay date – exactly a month after Saturday's game.

With tickets unlikely to go on sale from either Villa Park or the Hawthorns until April 8 at the earliest, the replay winners would then face a race against time to accommodate requests from supporters for the last-four games.

Albion would also face the prospect of a huge Hawthorns replay sandwiched between their crucial Premier League games against survival rivals Queens Park Rangers on April 4 and Leicester on April 11.

For Villa, the replay would fall between trips to Manchester United and Tottenham.

The teams will go head to head in the Cup on Saturday five days after Villa's 2-1 Premier League win against the Baggies on Tuesday.

Albion boss Tony Pulis said: "We will take Saturday's game as it comes."