Third-round preview: Arsenal vs. Man United; can Tamworth stun Spurs?

It’s FA Cup third round weekend, one of the biggest occasions in the English football calendar, when lower-league minnows get the chance to take on some of the biggest teams in the world in true David vs. Goliath encounters.

While 14-time FA Cup winners Arsenal take on holders and 13-time winners Manchester United in the heavyweight clash of the round at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea all face teams from EFL League Two. Oh, and Tottenham visit National League strugglers Tamworth — almost 100 places separate the two clubs in the English football pyramid — at their 4,900-capacity ground called The Lamb.

FA Cup history is littered with shocks and so-called giant-killings, including fourth-tier Wrexham beating reigning league champions Arsenal in 1992, third-tier Leeds United winning at Premier League champions Manchester United in 2010 and sixth-tier Maidstone United, of the National League South, winning away at Premier League-bound Ipswich Town last season.

So who will pull off the biggest shock this time, and what are the storylines to look out for? ESPN has identified the ties with the best stories and biggest shock value this weekend.

---

Ashley Young won the FA Cup with Manchester United in 2016 and the Everton defender will get the chance to create an even more personal cup memory by facing his teenage son in this third-round tie at Goodison Park.

Tyler Young, 18, made his professional debut for League One side Peterborough in October and could ensure a Father versus Son by being named in manager Darren Ferguson’s squad for the game. Ferguson, of course, is the son of former United manager Sir Alex, who signed Ashley Young for the Premier League club in 2011.

With Ashley at the senior end of the scale at 39 and Tyler still an unproven youngster, this could be a tie when one or both make an appearance from the substitutes’ bench, but Ashley has already spoken of the possibility being a “dream come true.”

As Ashley posted on X:

WOW………. Dreams Might Come True 🙏🏾🤞🏾💙#FaCup #GoosebumpsMoment #YoungVsYoung

— Ashley Young (@youngy18) December 2, 2024

This FA Cup clash is about one thing: milk!

In 1989, Accrington Stanley, then a part-time club in the non-league after going out of business as a Football League side in 1962, became the butt of a joke in a UK television commercial by the Milk Marketing Board in which two young Liverpool supporters argue over a drink of milk. One fan tells his friend that Ian Rush, Liverpool’s all-time leading goalscorer, had said that “if I don’t drink lots of milk, when I grow up, I’ll only be good enough to play for Accrington Stanley!”

His friend replies by saying, “Accrington Stanley? Who are they?” prompting the first child to say, “Exactly!” in response.

The commercial has since become a cult classic, and Saturday’s tie at Anfield will only be the second-ever meeting of the two clubs and the first since the 1955-56 FA Cup. In the years since the commercial, Accrington have enjoyed a renaissance and returned the Football League in 2009 and the club has maintained a long tradition of employing Liverpudlian footballers who have been unable to make the grade with Liverpool or Everton.

If you want to know what it means to Accrington’s players to have the chance of playing against Liverpool, check out the reaction of Accrington forward Josh Woods when the draw was made.

An under-achieving club overshadowed by a mighty neighbour until the arrival of a wealthy benefactor, vs. an under-achieving club overshadowed by a mighty neighbour until the arrival of a group of wealthy benefactors who made their name with the mighty neighbour. Welcome to Manchester City vs. Salford City: it’s a tie between two clubs less than five miles apart, but with the added spice of Salford being owned by the Class of 92, the famed group of young players who formed the backbone of Manchester United’s 1999 Treble winners.

Since buying Salford in 2014, when the club were seven levels below the Premier League, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville have taken the club into the EFL. They have been described as the “Man City of the lower leagues,” with Salford’s big-spending (in non-league terms) earning comparisons to City’s transformation under Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan since his 2008 takeover at the Etihad.

Salford’s astronomic rise has hit the buffers in recent years, with the club still in League Two after five seasons, but this tie is all about the owners and the very distant prospect of a huge upset against City to add to the successes they enjoyed while playing for United.

This is a classic cup tie involving a non-league minnow at home against one of the biggest names in English football. Tiny Tamworth are taking on Tottenham, whose record of eight FA Cup wins is bettered only by Arsenal and Manchester United. Tamworth’s stadium, The Lamb, has an artificial surface and visitors’ changing rooms that are too small to accommodate all of the Spurs squad and their staff.

Mid-table in the National League, England’s fifth tier, Tamworth would pull off one of the biggest shocks in FA Cup history if they were to defeat Spurs. Lincoln City were the last team from outside the EFL to win against a Premier League side in the FA Cup when they defeated Burnley at Turf Moor in 2017, while Sutton United‘s 2-1 home win against Coventry City in 1989 was the most recent non-league win against a top-flight side.

But as one of the Premier League’s so-called Big Six, Spurs would be the biggest name to fall against non-league side if they were to be on the wrong end of an upset. The club’s joy at being drawn against a Premier League opponent shows they’re ready for the challenge.

Everyone loves an FA Cup fairytale, but when two giants collide at the third-round stage, the tie will grab the headlines and Arsenal’s clash against United sees the cup’s most successful-ever sides go head-to-head for a place in the fourth round.

The Gunners haven’t gone beyond the fourth round since lifting the cup for a record 14th time after beating Chelsea in 2020, while 13-time winners United emerged with the cup for only the second time since 2004 after defeating Manchester City at Wembley last season.

Sunday’s game will be the 15th FA Cup encounter between the two teams with United winning eight, Arsenal five and one draw. It is a cup rivalry that has thrown up some of the most memorable moments in FA Cup history including Ryan Giggs’s solo goal winner in the 1999 semifinal replay, Alan Sunderland scoring a last-minute winner in the 1979 Final and Arsenal winning the first-ever penalty shoot-out in a final when beating United in 2005.

Sunday’s game will have to be decided on the day, with no more replays in the cup this season, so expect more drama.

Less than 20 miles separate EFL Championship side Leeds United and League Two team Harrogate Town, but the two will meet for the first time in a competitive fixture in Saturday’s tie at Elland Road.

And while the clubs are now just two divisions apart, it is a true David vs. Goliath tie. When Leeds won the league title in 1992 — the year before the start of the Premier League — Harrogate were playing in the seventh-tier Northern Premier League and had previously welcomed Leeds to their tiny 5,000-capacity Wetherby Road stadium to officially turn on the club’s new floodlights.

Harrogate is a genteel spa town, home of old-fashioned tea rooms and mineral springs, while Leeds is an industrial powerhouse city of 500,000 people, with a football club regarded by many as the biggest outside the Premier League. Having been promoted to the EFL for the first time in 2020, Harrogate continue to punch above their weight in League Two, but it would be a historic cup upset if they were to win.

Newcastle are arguably the most unsuccessful big club anywhere in the world due to a trophy drought dating back to 1969, when the Magpies won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup — the tournament that became the UEFA Cup and is now the Europa League. The last of Newcastle’s six FA Cups came in 1955, so Eddie Howe’s team could end a 70-year wait to become cup winners this season.

Standing in their way are League Two side Bromley, who were promoted to the EFL for the first time in their history by winning the National League Play-Off final last season.

Andy Woodman spent five years at Newcastle as the club’s goalkeeper coach between 2010 and 2015, but his claim to fame is co-authoring a book with best friend Gareth Southgate in 2004 called “Woody & Nord: A Football Friendship,” which won best autobiography at the British Book Awards for chronicling their relationship and contrasting careers in the game.

This tie is a repeat of the 1959 FA Cup Final, when Forest last lifted the cup courtesy of a goal scored by Elton John’s cousin.

Back in 1959, Roy Dwight was the star of the family, with younger cousin Reginald just a 12-year-old with dreams of making it as a pop star. After changing his name to Elton John, Reginald quickly put Roy in the shade with his musical achievements, even though Roy retained the rare distinction of scoring a goal to help his team win an FA Cup final before breaking his leg in the same game.

Fast forward to 2025 and Forest are flying high in the Premier League under Nuno Espirito Santo and one of the outsiders with hopes of winning the FA Cup this season.