If you are disappointed to discover there are no Premier League matches this weekend, don’t start making alternative plans just yet.
The third round of the FA Cup, the world’s oldest football tournament, welcomes England’s top-flight clubs in a bumper weekend.
In total, there are 32 matches over the next four days, pitting teams from across England’s football pyramid against each other. Nowhere is the gap bigger than at sixth-tier Macclesfield, who welcome the competition’s reigning champions, Crystal Palace of the Premier League.
The FA Cup is famed for its giant-killings, throwing up fixtures that have never been played before and where the elite clubs carry all the pressure and expectation. This weekend’s matches will all be played to a finish on the day, with extra time and penalties if required, rather than the replays used in past seasons.
The Athletic takes a look at some of the standout stories, what time those games start, why you should watch them and where you can tune in to do so.
Can Wrexham earn a top-flight scalp?
Since Hollywood stars Rob McElhenney (now Mac) and Ryan Reynolds became Wrexham’s co-owners in September 2020, the Welsh club have enjoyed a rapid rise, with three successive promotions landing them in English football’s second tier — where they are currently only one point outside the play-off places and six away from the automatic promotion spots.
There has been no shortage of drama along the way, but Wrexham are yet to face a Premier League side under these owners. That changes today (Friday), when Phil Parkinson’s side welcome Nottingham Forest to the Racecourse Ground.
In truth, this competition is unlikely to be a priority for Sean Dyche’s Forest. Their midweek win at fellow top-flight strugglers West Ham United ended a run of four successive defeats and opened up a seven-point gap between the sides, easing Forest’s relegation concerns.
Forest are also in the Europa League this season and will be wary of a fixture backlog. They are likely to heavily rotate their line-up for this fixture, potentially playing into Wrexham’s favour.
The most memorable FA Cup moment at Wrexham in recent times was a thrilling 3-3 draw against Sheffield United, then three divisions above them in the Championship, in the fourth round in January 2023, before the latter won a replay 3-1.
Cup holders looking to avoid a non-League banana skin
Crystal Palace won the FA Cup for the first time last season, with a memorable underdog victory against Manchester City at Wembley. Oliver Glasner’s side will have entirely different expectations on Saturday against National League North side Macclesfield.
Palace are without a win in eight matches in all competitions and their busy UEFA Conference League schedule means the FA Cup does not carry quite the same importance for the south London club, but anything other than a comfortable victory at the 5,300-capacity Moss Rose stadium, on Manchester’s southern outskirts, would be unthinkable.
Crystal Palace’s FA Cup victory parade outside their Selhurst Park stadium in May (Tom Dulat/Getty Images)
Macclesfield’s FA Cup campaign began on September 13, with a 3-0 home win over Atherton Laburnum Rovers of the North West Counties League Premier Division in the second qualifying round. They then beat Nantwich Town and Stamford in the third- and fourth-round qualifiers.
The first round proper is where English Football League (EFL) — the Championship, League One and League Two — clubs enter, but Macclesfield avoided all those sides, facing fellow sixth-tier teams AFC Totton and Slough Town in the first and second rounds before being drawn against Palace.
Macclesfield were formed in October 2020 as a phoenix club following the demise of Macclesfield Town, former regulars in the EFL who were wound up over outstanding debts. Their manager, John Rooney, is the younger brother of former Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney.
After a recent rise through the pyramid, Macclesfield, whose squad includes former Manchester United full-back Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, are only 14th in the 24-team National League North this season, but their artificial-turf 4G pitch and unglamorous facilities will hand Palace a challenge they would prefer to have avoided.
Can Fletcher and Rosenior secure first wins?
Manchester United and Chelsea have had turbulent starts to the new year, to say the least.
The exits of head coaches Ruben Amorim and Enzo Maresca have brought off-field upheaval for both clubs. Darren Fletcher stepped up from his role with United’s under-18s to take charge of the midweek league draw at Burnley and will oversee Sunday’s cup game at home to fellow Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion, before an interim head coach — which could yet turn out to be Fletcher — is appointed for the remainder of the season.
Darren Fletcher will stay in charge for Manchester United’s meeting with Brighton (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
United defeated Brighton 4-2 at Old Trafford in the league earlier in October and the early signs suggest Fletcher will favour an attack-minded, front-footed approach that could bring a similarly open game against Fabian Hurzeler’s south-coast side. Without European football and following their embarrassing Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Grimsby Town of fourth-tier League Two in August, the FA Cup is United’s only realistic chance at silverware this season.
Chelsea are two points off the Champions League qualification places but are winless in five, and Wednesday’s 2-1 loss at west London neighbours Fulham saw their fans chant for the club’s owners to go.
The negative mood puts immediate pressure on Liam Rosenior to right the ship in his first match as Chelsea head coach across the capital at Championship side Charlton Athletic on Saturday night.
Charlton, 19th in the 24-team second tier, are managed by Nathan Jones, whose short 2022-23 stint in charge of Southampton included a memorable Carabao Cup defeat of Manchester City, who won the treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup that season.
Will the giant-killing tables turn?
Grimsby provided an upset for the ages when they eliminated Manchester United from the Carabao Cup in August. The League Two side are here in the FA Cup third round, but will take on the role of strong favourites rather than huge underdogs.
They host Weston-super-Mare, a sixth-tier National League South side who have reached this stage of the FA Cup for the first time in their 138-year history.
Weston-super-Mare are second in that league and aiming for promotion (their higher current league position than fellow sixth-tier side Macclesfield makes them the second-lowest-ranked team left in the competition). They will be notable underdogs against Grimsby, who reached the FA Cup quarter-finals in 2022-23 with a run that included a victory at Southampton, then in the Premier League.
Based in a seaside resort near Bristol in the south-west of England, Weston-super-Mare required a replay to overcome Taunton Town in the second qualifying round, before subsequent qualifying-phase victories over Poole Town and Needham Market. They then defeated Aldershot Town, from one division above them, in the first round proper before victory at National League South rivals Chelmsford City in round two.
Premier League coaches in the hot seat
West Ham’s Nuno Espirito Santo and Tottenham Hotspur’s Thomas Frank desperately need wins this weekend.
These two Premier League head coaches are under the microscope due to prolonged spells of underwhelming results and performances, operating in increasingly pressurised environments with unhappy fanbases.
West Ham and Spurs have been handed home ties for the third round, but they may not bring home comforts.
Third-bottom West Ham have the Premier League’s second-worst home record — seven points from 11 games, marginally better than that of last-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers. Spurs are only two points better off from their 10 home games. The two clubs have also both been handed potentially difficult opponents.
Nuno’s side welcome fellow London side Queens Park Rangers, who are three points outside the Championship play-offs. QPR will have 9,000 fans travelling from west to east of the capital to back their side at the London Stadium on Sunday, and will fancy their chances of a top-flight scalp.
Spurs, meanwhile, welcome Aston Villa, who have already won at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League this season and eliminated the north London side from last season’s FA Cup at the fourth-round stage, on Saturday evening.
How to watch the FA Cup third round
(All times ET/GMT and broadcasters ESPN in the United States/TNT Sports in the UK unless stated. Saturday 3pm matches not broadcast in the U.K.)
Friday
Wrexham vs Nottingham Forest, 2.30pm/7.30pm
Milton Keynes Dons vs Oxford United, 2.30pm/7.30pm
Preston North End vs Wigan Athletic, 2.30pm/7.30pm
Port Vale vs Fleetwood Town, 2.30pm/7.30pm
Saturday
Everton vs Sunderland, 7.15am/12.15pm (Fubo in the U.S.)
Macclesfield vs Crystal Palace, 7.15am/12.15pm (BBC and TNT Sports in the UK)
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Shrewsbury Town, 7.15am/12.15pm
Cheltenham Town vs Leicester City, 7.15am/12.15pm
Boreham Wood vs Burton Albion, 10am/3pm
Burnley vs Millwall, 10am/3pm
Doncaster Rovers vs Southampton, 10am/3pm
Fulham vs Middlesbrough, 10am/3pm
Ipswich Town vs Blackpool, 10am/3pm
Manchester City vs Exeter City, 10am/3pm
Newcastle United vs Bournemouth, 10am/3pm
Sheffield Wednesday vs Brentford, 10am/3pm
Stoke City vs Coventry City, 10am/3pm
Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa, 12.45pm/5.45pm (BBC and TNT Sports in the UK)
Grimsby Town vs Weston-super-Mare, 12.45pm/5.45pm
Cambridge United vs Birmingham City, 12.45pm/5.45pm
Bristol City vs Watford, 12.45pm/5.45pm
Charlton Athletic vs Chelsea, 3pm/8pm
*Salford City vs Swindon Town has been postponed due to bad weather
Sunday
Derby County vs Leeds United, 7am/12pm
Portsmouth vs Arsenal, 9am/2pm (Fubo in the U.S.)
West Ham United vs Queens Park Rangers, 9.30am/2.30pm
Norwich City vs Walsall, 9.30am/2.30pm
Swansea City vs West Bromwich Albion, 9.30am/2.30pm
Hull City vs Blackburn Rovers, 9.30am/2.30pm
Sheffield United vs Mansfield Town, 9.30am/2.30pm
Manchester United vs Brighton & Hove Albion, 11.30pm/4.30pm
Monday
Liverpool vs Barnsley, 2.45pm/7.45pm
FA Cup 2025-26 key dates
Fourth round: Weekend of Saturday, February 14
Fifth round: Weekend of Saturday, March 7
Quarter-finals: Weekend of Saturday, April 4
Semi-finals: Weekend of Saturday, April 25
Final: Saturday, May 16