MANCHESTER UNITED and Liverpool will hold peace talks over the next few weeks after being paired together in an FA Cup fourth-round draw that also throws up the possibility of John Terry’s Chelsea playing at Queens Park Rangers only a few days before his court appearance for allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.

The draw will see United, who yesterday knocked out the holders Manchester City in a dramatic and controversial 3-2 derby victory, go to Anfield at a time when the Luis Suarez affair has caused significant damage to the relationship between the two clubs and left Liverpool in a state of open conflict against the English Football Association.

At the same time QPR, who announced last night that they had sacked Neil Warnock as manager, now know a win in their third-round replay against MK Dons on January 17th will see them entertain Chelsea for the first time since Terry was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence over comments allegedly made to Ferdinand during the Premier League match at Loftus Road on October 23rd.

The fourth-round games will take place over the weekend of January 28th-29th, with Terry scheduled to appear before west London magistrates’ court on February 1st.

This was the draw that the FA feared the most and raises the prospect of two of the key ties being played amid a strained and acrimonious backdrop.

The Anfield club are so concerned they let it be known last week they wanted clear-the-air talks with United in the next month to discuss the best way to approach the league encounter at Old Trafford on February 11th.

That is likely to be Suarez’s first away game after his eight-match ban for his use of the word “negro” during a row with Patrice Evra in the 1-1 draw at Anfield in October.

The FA’s ruling against Suarez and Liverpool’s statements, effectively accusing Evra of concocting his allegations out of spite and stating that the case against their player was “highly subjective”, has caused huge damage behind the scenes, and Alex Ferguson was almost contemptuous when it was put to him on Friday that the Merseyside club were suggesting some form of high-level communication.

“It’s nice of them to do it through the press,” he said pointedly. “You would have thought they would have come to Manchester United. But I don’t see why there is any need for that, to be honest.”

Ferguson’s prickliness can be explained by his grievances in the wake of Liverpool attacking Evra as “not credible”, the lack of an apology for the United player and the apparent refusal at Anfield to accept the verdict of an independent commission led by Paul Goulding QC. Liverpool’s stance remains the same and they also want to open discussions with the FA, but the hope was that they could do it quietly whereas the FA Cup draw seems certain to keep the Suarez case in the news.

United have privately accepted they will be open to an approach from Liverpool about improving relations and working on a joint strategy ahead of the game.

There is also the possibility that a fourth-round replay could lead to Suarez facing Evra and a hostile Old Trafford crowd twice within three or four days.

Similar difficulties will be experienced at Loftus Road after an episode that has left a tense relationship between the two sets of supporters. Chelsea have condemned the anti-Ferdinand chants that have been sung by a minority of supporters since their last meeting with QPR and there had been relief that their next league encounter is not until April.