It’s third-round weekend in the FA Cup – and good tidings to all who celebrate.
The Premier League teams will join the competition and some have been awarded fellow top division sides for their third round matches, while others will face lower league outfits.
Arsenal‘s game against Liverpool at the Emirates is probably the headline tie, but there are other games that could cause upsets with those up against it undoubtedly hungry to make headlines.
After Thursday’s game between Crystal Palace and Everton and a few Friday night fixtures too, the biggest chunk of the games will be held over Saturday and Sunday.
Mail Sport has picked 10 talking points for this weekend…
FA Cup action returns this weekend with Premier League sides joining the competition
Lower league sides will look to continue to cause upsets as their prepare for their big games
Stones on a roll under Elokobi
Maidstone come into this weekend as the lowest-ranked team in the FA Cup third round and one of four non-league sides still in the hat after already claiming one Football League scalp in knocking out League Two promotion chasers Barrow in the second round.
Managed by former Premier League defender George Elokobi, once of Wolves and Nottingham Forest, the Stones have an intriguing history that saw the club forced out of the Football League due to bankruptcy in 1992 and reformed as their youth team Maidstone Invicta.
They progressed from the Kent County League and were renamed back to Maidstone United in 1997 and play on an artificial pitch at the Gallagher Stadium. Their third-round opponents are over-achieving Stevenage, seventh in League One after their promotion last season.
Manager Steve Evans and his opposite number Elokobi went head-to-head on this week’s 72+, a BBC 5 Live show about the EFL and beyond, with the Stevenage boss recalling the biggest upset of last year when his side, then in League Two, knocked out Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.
Maidstone United, managed by George Elokobi (right), will face League One Stevenage
The Stones have been in good form under the former defender but are three divisions below their weekend opponents
Grigg’s got Chesterfield on fire
Watford’s defence may be terrified ahead of this clash with Chesterfield and 13-goal Will Grigg, who is on fire in the National League. After missing out on promotion in a play-off final penalty shoot-out, the Spireites are flying in the fifth tier, seven clear with two games in hand.
Paul Cook’s side have already claimed two big scalps this season, knocking out two League One sides – leaders Portsmouth and Leyton Orient – and this could be one of the best bets for an upset in the third round.
The new non-league Haaland?
Eastleigh striker Paul McCallum is the only player in England’s top five tiers to break 20 goals this season, with the 30-year-old perhaps stealing the ‘non-league Haaland’ tag off Notts County’s Macaulay Langstaff (though Langstaff is the top scorer in League Two now).
The 30-year-old grew up in Streatham and was picked up by West Ham when playing for Dulwich Hamlet. After a series of six loans away from the Hammers, he made the permanent move down the road to Leyton Orient in 2015 and has had a decent scoring record ever since.
This is the Spitfires’ third appearance in the third round in the last few years, having achieved a record attendance of 5,025 in 2016 against Bolton, who they took to a replay, and then lost to Brentford in 2020. They travel to League Two Newport on Saturday.
Paul McCallum is the only player who has scored 20 goals this season in England’s top five tiers
It’s Arsenal v Liverpool… again
This year marks a half-century since Liverpool won the FA Cup in 1974 under Bill Shankly, with Steve Heighway and a Kevin Keegan brace against Newcastle in the final. Their run to the Wembley showpiece was far from easy, though.
It started with a clash against Doncaster, who finished the season 90th of 92 in the Football League, and Rovers nearly pulled off what would have been one of the biggest giant-killings in history when they forced league champions Liverpool to a replay.
It meant Keegan, from Armthorpe in Doncaster, got to play on ‘the hallowed turf of Belle Vue’. Liverpool also struggled against lower-division Carlisle that year. Their third-round draw this time is a bit tougher, though, with the Reds travelling to title rivals Arsenal.
After drawing 1-1 at Anfield in the Premier League two days before Christmas, and another league match slated for February 4, neither manager will want a replay in this one – or the usually entertaining fixture will turn into the Old Firm, which seems to be played six times a year.
Arsenal versus Liverpool is arguably the headline tie of the round, but it’s a fixture we’ll see often – and did see as recently as late December
Neither team will be keen on a replay, with another league game between the two set for February and fixture congestion an issue
Aldershot at glory
It’s a shot at glory for Aldershot, whose manager Tommy Widdrington’s son is a professional dancer on Strictly. The side who sit just outside the play-off places in the National League will hope to waltz past Championship top-six hopefuls and five-time winners West Brom here.
Aldershot have been past the third round just once in their history, when they beat Rotherham in 2012-13 and nearly 5,000 fans will make the jaunt to the Midlands for their first appearance at this stage since that season, and face a tough task against Carlos Corberan’s side.
Aldershot manager Tommy Widdrington (left) will lead his side against West Brom this weekend – his son Kai (centre) is a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing
Another 10-1 thrashing?
What does Mel Machin have that Pep Guardiola does not? The Catalan coach might have won five trophies in 2023 but one he cannot claim is a Second Division runners-up medal… or a 10-1 thrashing over Huddersfield.
That clash was at Maine Road in 1987, still City’s greatest-ever league win, after Neil McNab opened the scoring and three players, Paul Stewart, David White and Tony Adcock, scored a hat-trick.
Darren Moore takes his Terriers side back to Manchester today and, though it might be appealing to fancy another thrashing, Huddersfield are well drilled and some fans have voiced frustration at defensive tactics, with them setting up pretty much in a 5-5-0 formation at times.
The defending champions are going for an eighth FA Cup crown and start against the 1922 winners. Huddersfield often chant, ‘where were you when you were s***’ at City fans, to which their supporters reply, ‘beating you when you were s***’.
Magic of Cup still alive in away ends
The third round could only get better after a drab 0-0 draw between Crystal Palace and Everton – why on earth did ITV deny non-league sides their day of fame to pick that one for broadcast? – but that match started a common theme of big away followings this weekend.
Around 4,000 Evertonians made the trip to south London and many more big efforts will occur this weekend. Bristol City are set to take around 9,000 to West Ham, while 6,103 Huddersfield supporters have bought tickets for their trip to Manchester City.
The authorities don’t do much right in football these days, from VAR to broadcast selections, but the rule that away fans must be offered 15 per cent of the ground – up to 9,000 – in the FA Cup is a great thing to see, especially at big clubs where regular home fans can’t be bothered.
4,000 Everton fans made the trip to London to see their side draw 0-0 with Crystal Palace
Bristol City, meanwhile, are set to take around 9,000 supporters to West Ham, with away support as strong as ever around the country
Can Leeds avoid their annual upset?
Leeds did well in last season’s FA Cup after needing a last-minute goal to take Cardiff, then in the division below, to a replay. But their recent record in the cup makes for grim reading, knocked out by the likes of Crawley, Newport and Sutton.
They face another banana skin this weekend, going to League One high-flyers Peterborough, who will be out for an upset. Posh are managed by… you guessed it, Darren Ferguson, with the son of Sir Alex now in his fourth stint at London Road.
What’s with the kick-off times?
Forty years ago this week, the 1984 FA Cup third round kicked off with one tie at 7.15pm on the Friday night, 30 matches on Saturday at 3pm and one on Sunday at 3pm. Now, we’ve got 10 different time slots for action.
That’s one match on Thursday, three at different start times on Friday, four at 12.30pm on Saturday, one at 12.45pm, just 10 at the traditional 3pm slot and four at 5.30pm. Then there’s seven 2pm kick-offs Sunday, one 2.15pm (why?) and, if you’re not bored by then, one on Monday night.
Leeds manager Daniel Farke is looking to help his side avoid another cup upset – his side will face Peterborough on Sunday afternoon
Who to watch for Sunderland
A lot of the previews for the highly-anticipated Wear-Tyne derby, the tie of the round by some distance, have centred around the rivalry itself – but can Sunderland actually pull off an upset as this fixture is played for the first time in eight years?
Jobe Bellingham is of course the headline name for the Black Cats but also watch out for direct and exciting winger Jack Clarke, plus defender Luke O’Nien – at 29 one of very few older players – who recently saved the life of a drowning dog in the North Sea.
