A rematch of last year's final between Manchester City and Wigan was just one of several fascinating stories set up by the FA Cup sixth-round draw on Sunday.
Although Arsenal's 2-1 win over Liverpool - a match played after the draw was made - meant there will be no Merseyside derby in the quarter-finals, Sheffield United's come-from-behind win over Nottingham Forest kept alive the possibility of a local affair in the Steel City if Wednesday can beat Charlton in their rearranged fixture.
Meanwhile, Gus Poyet may yet take his Sunderland side to former club Brighton, if the Seagulls can win at home to Hull on Monday night.
Thanks to the controversial timing of the draw on Sunday afternoon, City against Wigan was the only fixture set in stone as soon as the balls had come out of the bag - with one fifth-round tie still in progress, two others yet to kick-off and one still to be rearranged.
Former City favourite Uwe Rosler will take his Latics side to the Etihad Stadium, where Manuel Pellegrini's side saw off Chelsea 2-0 on Saturday, with Wigan hoping to claim another top-flight scalp after overcoming Cardiff in the fifth round.
Wigan beat City 1-0 in last year's final thanks to a late header from Ben Watson in what proved Roberto Mancini's last match in charge of the Manchester club.
Although City fans will be keen for revenge, Rosler can be sure of a rapturous reception at the Etihad, having established himself as a cult figure at Maine Road during a spell that saw him score 64 goals in 176 appearances.
Wigan followed up their FA Cup success by suffering relegation, but City have already beaten them once this season - a 5-0 Capital One Cup victory before Rosler took charge at the DW Stadium.
By the time they walked out at the Emirates, Liverpool knew victory would give them a home tie against Everton, but a much-changed Arsenal side ground out a 2-1 win littered with refereeing controversies.
The Toffees' trip to north London is the only guaranteed all-Premier League clash in a draw which will see at least one Football League club reach a Wembley semi-final.
Everton saw off Swansea 3-1 at Goodison Park prior to the draw, but Roberto Martinez - the man who guided Wigan to their famous success last year - was slightly disappointed to be drawn away.
"Obviously when you reach the sixth round you're in a fantastic position to get a trip to Wembley and that's what makes it exciting," the Spaniard told ITV.
"The draw has not been too kind in terms of playing away from home, but we will embrace it and look forward to it."
Hull can make it a second all-Premier League affair if they can win at Brighton to earn a match-up with Sunderland, and Poyet may even prefer that scenario than a return to the Amex, where his reign ended in a messy divorce last term.
Whether or not Brighton progress, at least one Football League club will enjoy a Wembley pay-day with Sheffield United due to face the winner of the rearranged fixture between Wednesday and Charlton, postponed on Saturday due to a waterlogged pitch.
United had trailed 1-0 at half-time but manager Nigel Clough told his players the draw during the interval and they came out rejuvenated.
"Yes, we told them just before they went back out," Clough said.
"We thought 'what the hell? - we'll just tell them'.
"I just said 'you've got 45 minutes, away you go. If we get the victory you might have a Sheffield derby yet'."
Substitute Chris Porter missed the announcement as he was out warming up, but it was his late brace that sealed the 3-1 triumph.
The FA Cup Sixth Round Draw is:
Arsenal v Everton
Brighton/Hull v Sunderland
Sheff Utd v Sheff Wed/Charlton
Manchester City v Wigan
Matches to be played over the weekend of March 8-9.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article