Premier League

FA Cup Third Round Draw – Sixth-Tier Macclesfield Host Holders

Blue Folding Stadium Seats

For fans of lower-league and, especially, non-league football teams, the draw for the third round of the FA Cup is one of the most exciting events of the season… as long as their side has made it past the second round! There are only three non-league outfits left in this season’s FA Cup as the big boys enter the fray: National League side Boreham Wood, and two sixth-tier sides, Weston-super-Mare of National League South, and Macclesfield FC from National League North.

Here we’ll take a look at the draw to find out who the non-league sides will face in early January, and we’ll cast our eyes over the rest of the ties, including several all-Premier League affairs.

FA Cup Third Round Draw 2025/26

  • Boreham Wood v Burton Albion
  • Bristol City v Watford
  • Burnley v Millwall
  • Cambridge United v Birmingham City
  • Charlton Athletic v Chelsea
  • Cheltenham Town v Leicester City
  • Derby County v Leeds United
  • Doncaster Rovers v Southampton
  • Everton v Sunderland
  • Fulham v Middlesbrough
  • Grimsby v Weston-super-Mare
  • Hull City v Blackburn Rovers
  • Ipswich Town v Blackpool
  • Liverpool v Barnsley
  • Macclesfield v Crystal Palace
  • Manchester City v Exeter City
  • Manchester United v Brighton
  • MK Dons v Oxford United
  • Newcastle United v Bournemouth
  • Norwich v Walsall
  • Port Vale v Fleetwood
  • Portsmouth v Arsenal
  • Preston North End v Wigan Athletic
  • Salford v Swindon
  • Sheffield United v Mansfield Town
  • Sheffield Wednesday v Brentford
  • Stoke City v Coventry
  • Swansea v West Brom
  • Tottenham v Aston Villa
  • West Ham v Queens Park Rangers
  • Wolves v Shrewsbury Town
  • Wrexham v Nottingham Forest

Best Ties of the Third Round

As always with the third round of the FA Cup, there is a good variety of interesting-looking ties. Here we’ll delve into the best of them. First, we’ll assess how kind the draw has been to the non-league sides, then we’ll focus on the all-Prem matches, before looking out for some potential David vs Goliath giant-killing action.

Macclesfield v Crystal Palace

Phoenix club Macclesfield FC was born from the ashes of Macclesfield Town just five years ago, and already they are making fine strides towards the Football League.

And they’ve landed an excellent tie here against the current FA Cup holders, Crystal Palace. Okay, it’s not a Man United or an Arsenal, but this one looks odds-on to be televised, which will be a welcome boost to the Macclesfield coffers as they continue their quest to gain promotion to the National League and beyond.

Grimsby Town v Weston-super-Mare

The draw was decidedly less kind to the other sixth-tier side left in the competition, as Weston-super-Mare will travel to Grimsby Town. Given that League Two side Grimsby knocked Man United out of the League Cup earlier in the season, this is going to be a very tough game for the visiting minnows.

And the Mariners’ ground isn’t massive either, so the gate receipts won’t be too lucrative for the non-league side. There’s a chance the game will get a spot on TV, though, which would be welcomed by the Weston-super-Mare board.

Boreham Wood v Burton Albion

Of the three non-league sides, Boreham Wood have the best chance of progressing to the fourth round. Burton will not be an easy opponent, being three divisions above their hosts, but the Brewers are struggling a bit in League One, and the underdogs could take advantage in front of their home supporters to produce a famous cupset.

All-Premier League Ties

There are four all-EPL ties in the third round: Everton v Sunderland, Manchester United v Brighton, Newcastle United v Bournemouth, and Tottenham v Aston Villa. All of them will appeal to the neutrals, as all four could feasibly go either way. Everton and Sunderland are both having very good seasons so far, but with the Black Cats losing several players to the Africa Cup of Nations, David Moyes’ current side should prevail against his former one.

Man United will certainly want to win their tie on home soil, and there are signs that Ruben Amorim is finally starting to make progress, although the consistency is still not quite there. Newcastle are another side that have struggled to string a run of positive results together, but they should see off Bournemouth at St James’ Park. Tottenham against Villa, meanwhile, could be very unpredictable as you never know which Spurs side will show up.

Potential Giant Killings

There are several matches that have ‘Cupset’ written all over them, not least Charlton Athletic v Chelsea. In theory, the Blues should win this with relative ease, but Enzo Maresca’s side will have played eight games in December and they have two away games (Man City and Fulham) just in the week before this tie, which could swing things in Charlton’s favour just enough.

Liverpool v Barnsley is a re-run of the 2008 fifth round when Barnsley visited Anfield… and won 2-1. The Tykes made it to the semi-finals of that season’s FA Cup, and they’ll be hoping for a similar run this time around once they overcome Liverpool, who are not having the greatest season at the time of writing.

Arsenal have been brilliant for much of the season, but Portsmouth v Arsenal does have the whiff of a potential upset. The main hope for the Championship side is that Mikel Arteta rests most of his first-team regulars as the Gunners attempt to negotiate assaults on both the Premier League and Champions League. If so, Pompey have an outside chance of progressing.

Wrexham are past masters at giant-killing, with their 1992 cup win over Arsenal being one of the greatest ever. They have the chance to do something similar against Nottingham Forest this time around, and we wouldn’t bet against them progressing against a Forest side that haven’t quite got it together this term.