the football association are confident the fa cup semi final between arsenal and reading will draw a much larger television audience than manchester united’ s premier league trip to chelsea after revealing the matches will clash just 10 minutes separate the kick off times of two of the biggest games this season, with the fa cup encountering an awkward conflict on what is supposed to be a standout weekend for the competition arsenal face reading at wembley on saturday april 18 at 520pm for a place in the fa cup final, with chelsea hosting united at stamford bridge at 530pm the same evening in a hugely important premier league encounter marouane fellaini competes with gary cahill  during the barclays premier league match  at old trafford  jose mourinho faces louis van gaal with points on the line for the title race and champions league spots  much of the build up to that slot will focus on jose mourinho facing louis van gaal, with points on the line for the title race and champions league qualification arsenal’s game against championship reading may play second fiddle in the eyes of many neutral football fans but fa sources insist viewing figures for their match, broadcast on the bbc, will far outstrip the premier league contest shown on sky united v arsenal in the fa cup quarter finals managed peak figures of 89million people the terrestrial advantage in this battle is highly significant arsenal players celebrate after beating hull in the fa cup final at wembley last year  blackburn players salute their fans after they earned an fa cup replay against liverpool  the bbc had first pick of the semi finals and elected for the time and day that is likely to yield their greatest tv audience the scheduling of the premier league match would not feature heavily among considerations bt sport picked up aston villa’s semi final against either liverpool or blackburn and that will kick off at 3pm on sunday april 19 it does mean an trickier trip home by train for northern supporters than a saturday fixture would have represented, but it is understood metropolitan police were reluctant to have liverpool and united fans potentially travelling to and from london euston at similar times many supporters ran on to the pitch after watching reading beat bradford to book an fa cup semi final spot  aston villa fans celebrate victory on the pitch after beating west brom in the fa cup sixth round 
fa just 10 minutes the premier league chelsea the fa cup 520pm season wembley manchester united evening
just 10 minutes separate kick off times of two of this season's big games  arsenal take on reading in the fa cup semi final at wembley at 520pm  manchester united play at chelsea in the premier league that evening also  the fa are confident that the semi final will have more television viewers 