This is what the FA Cup is supposed to be about. Crystal Palace are now one game away from history, after Eberechi Eze emphasised how he is the present, and maybe the future. You could say the same about Adam Wharton. The first won this semi-final against Aston Villa, the other ran it. Ismaila Sarr then offered the flourishes. All three players crucially elevated a supreme team performance, on an epic day for the club.
Villa meanwhile couldn’t get to that level, as if recent efforts have finally caught up with them. For Palace, this was everything, and you could tell. Eze and Wharton stood out but the collective effort was utterly immense.