Here’s our full story on the third round draw:
Ok, that’s it for now. But join me over here! Hope you got a tie to look forward to. Cheerio...
Those ties will be played between 8 and 11 January.
Quick roundup of some highlights: Whitehawk will play at Everton if they beat Dagenham in their replay; Exeter v Liverpool really leaps out; Oxford v Swansea isn’t bad; Salford City host Derby if they beat Hartlepool; Arsenal start their defence against Sunderland; Aston Villa must go to Wycombe; Eastleigh host Bolton; Manchester United play Sheffield United; Manchester City travel to Norwich; Chelsea host Leyton Orient or Scunthorpe.
Hull City v Brighton. Another slugfest between two Championship contenders.
Norwich v Manchester City ... which leaves ...
Middlesbrough v Burnley
Huddersfield Town v Reading
Cardiff City v Grimsby or Shrewsbury
Leeds United v Rotherham United (Steve Evans derby...Neil Redfearn derby)
Doncaster Rovers v Stoke City
Chelsea v Leyton Orient or Scunthorpe
Carlisle United v Yeovil Town
Nottingham Forest v QPR
Eastleigh v Bolton. A shock there?
Southampton v Crystal Palace
Everton v Dag & Red or Whitehawk. Ooooooh......
Manchester United v Sheffield United
Bury v Bradford City
Brentford v Chesterfield or Walsall (Dean Smith derby?)
Oxford United v Swansea City
Sheffield Wednesday v Fulham (the Stuart Gray derby?)
Wycombe Wanderers v Aston Villa. Who’s favourite for that?
Birmingham City v Bournemouth
Ipswich Town v Portsmouth
Newport County v Blackburn Rovers
Arsenal v Sunderland. Groundhog day...
Northampton Town v MK Dons
Peterborough United v Preston North End
Colchester United v Charlton
Tottenham v Leicester. Tasty, too.
Exeter City v Liverpool! Now *that* is an FA Cup tie!
Salford City or Hartlepool v Derby County. That could be fun!
West Ham v Wolves
Next up is West Brom v Bristol City.
The first tie out is ... Watford v Newcastle!
It's (actually) time for the draw
Home teams to be drawn by John Hartson; away teams by Mark Sampson. I’ll be rattling through these fixtures with scant fanfare.
In case you’re wondering, this draw was never actually going to start at 7. It’s preamblier than a Guardian MBM preamble, but not as preambly as a Champions League draw. Shouldn’t be long though.
@NickAmes82 If ManU get Salford, which side will Giggsy's football bread be buttered? Will it fall butter side up? What does this even mean?
— Mike Knowles (@mikeknowles) December 7, 2015
Number seven ... Yohan Cabaye ... will play number five ... John Stones ....ugghhh, wrong MBM, etcetera.
Come hither, while we wait, for some build-up to Everton v Palace. I’m doing that too. I have a lot of hands.
@NickAmes82 Obvious. Bournemouth are no 1 ball because they are alphabetically first. Clubs name is AFC Bournemouth.
— Alan Wright (@FrenchChairs) December 7, 2015
Well, yes.
From David Mooney (presumably not the Southend striker, who wouldn’t have much reason to be watching the third round draw): “Presumably the FA is pumping up the excitement by presenting a full-blown Powerpoint slideshow describing how the ball numbers were allocated. (1-44 are teams joining the competition in the 3rd round! 45-64 are teams that played in the second round!) But do they have any information about how Bournemouth got to #1? All the other teams in 1-44 are alphabetical. Is this because they beat Chelsea on the weekend? Would Arsenal be #1 if they had somehow managed to beat Chelsea?”
We need answers.
From Adam Griffiths: “Two FA Cup games have been moved for the telly, Rochdale vs Bury (seven miles apart) and Grimsby vs Shrewsbury (one hundred and sixty five miles apart). Guess which one was moved to Monday night?”
Seems illogical to me. Something about not wanting to police people drinking on the evening of a derby, at a guess?
Of course, this is now the ‘Emirates FA Cup’ ... which means there should be something pretty droll to say about it being the only cup Arsenal can win, if only I could think of it.
Any potential subplots stick out for you? Salford City (if they beat Hartlepool) v Manchester United is the obvious one, and the Huddersfield/Liverpool idea below is very good.
You didn’t ask me what the first-ever FA Cup third round tie I attended was, but I’ll tell you anyway. It was Ipswich v Hartlepool, January 1992. Late equaliser from the home team. Freezing – no, romantic!
@NickAmes82 Huddersfield v Liverpool to make a Borussia Dortmund derby! https://t.co/Hxj0GXDe4k
— Thomas Lenihan (@sportsfanlen) December 7, 2015
Nice shout!
Repping the non-leaguers in this draw, as you’ve probably gathered, are Eastleigh from the Conference. They could be joined by little Whitehawk (Conference South) if they win their replay, or probably-not-that-little-in-a-few-years’-time Salford City, if they prevail at Hartlepool. And, indeed, the Conference’s Grimsby Town will make it through if they beat Shrewsbury tonight. Do you support any of these teams?
Evening
It’s One Of The Most Eagerly Awaited Days In The Football Calendar. Who will your club get? Who would you like your club to get? Did you, as I did a couple of times when I was younger, make your own fun mock-up draw to anticipate the real one? Definitely disclosing too much here, but I actually did, after I heard some guy on Six-O-Six talking about it. I was young. There was probably only dial-up internet. It’s ok.
But we’ve a small amount of time to play with before what promises to be a burst of frantic activity at this end followed by a curt goodbye and a swanning-off to MBM Everton v Palace. Let’s fill some time and space with “ball numbers to watch out for”.
2 – Arsenal. The holders. Hat-trick?
8 – Brighton. Will they ever lose a game?
13 – Chelsea. As good as a bye?
22 – Leicester. We’re all Leicester fans now.
23 – Liverpool. Klopp for the kup?
49 – Eastleigh. Just imagine!
62 – Salford City or Hartlepool. Can someone play their way to a Valencia move?
63 – Dag & Red or Whitehawk. Can the Brighton-based side snare some big motivation for the replay?
Anything else grab your fancy. Then tell us.
Preamble
Nick will be here shortly to take you through the draw as it happens, as four non-league sides remain in the pot while the Premier League giants join in all the fun.
Those ball numbers in full …
1 Bournemouth
2 Arsenal
3 Aston Villa
4 Birmingham City
5 Blackburn Rovers
6 Bolton Wanderers
7 Brentford
8 Brighton & Hove Albion
9 Bristol City
10 Burnley
11 Cardiff City
12 Charlton Athletic
13 Chelsea
14 Crystal Palace
15 Derby County
16 Everton
17 Fulham
18 Huddersfield Town
19 Hull City
20 Ipswich Town
21 Leeds United
22 Leicester City
23 Liverpool
24 Manchester City
25 Manchester United
26 Middlesbrough
27 MK Dons
28 Newcastle United
29 Norwich City
30 Nottingham Forest
31 Preston North End
32 Queens Park Rangers
33 Reading
34 Rotherham United
35 Sheffield Wednesday
36 Southampton
37 Stoke City
38 Sunderland
39 Swansea City
40 Tottenham Hotspur
41 Watford
42 West Bromwich Albion
43 West Ham United
44 Wolverhampton Wanderers
45 Bradford City
46 Newport County
47 Peterborough United
48 Portsmouth
49 Eastleigh
50 Northampton Town
51 Exeter City
52 Doncaster Rovers
53 Grimsby Town or Shrewsbury Town
54 Yeovil Town
55 Bury
56 Carlisle United
57 Leyton Orient or Scunthorpe United
58 Wycombe Wanderers
59 Colchester United
60 Chesterfield or Walsall
61 Sheffield United
62 Salford City or Hartlepool United
63 Dagenham & Redbridge or Whitehawk
64 Oxford United
