The top two tiers of England's footballing pyramid flooded the nation's oldest competition as the 2024/25 FA Cup third round draw was made on Monday evening at Old Trafford.
Reigning champions Manchester United begin the defence of their crown with a trip to serial FA Cup winners Arsenal. The two Premier League giants meet on Wednesday night and were pitted against each other in a cup tie which inspired gasps from the crowd watching the draw at United's home stadium.
Beaten Wembley finalists Manchester City host Salford City, the club co-owned by Gary Neville and his fellow members of Manchester United's Class of 92. It remains to be seen if Pep Guardiola has managed to steer his fallen giants out of their winless slump by the time the third round rolls around in January.
Premier League-leading Liverpool, arguably the best team in Europe at the moment, face League Two Accrington Stanley while Chelsea were also drawn against lower league opposition in the form of Morecambe.
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The FA Cup trophy will be up for grabs in May / Ryan Hiscott/GettyImages
All second round ties were concluded across the last weekend of November. As is tradition in a tournament dating back to the Victorian era, the third round of fixtures will be contested at the start of January.
While specific dates and kick-off times will finalised in due course, all fixtures will take place on the weekend of Saturday, 11 January 2025.
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The actual FA Cup trophy / Matthew Ashton - AMA/GettyImages
For the first time in the competition's 153-year history, replays have been permanently scrapped. After a meeting between the Football Association and the Premier League - the driving force behind a reduced calendar - it was announced that "all parties accepted" that replays had to be removed from the first round onwards for the 2024/25 campaign and beyond.
In response to the shock announcement, the English Football League - which encompasses the Championship, League One and League Two - released a strongly-worded riposte.
The EFL claimed that they had not been "formally consulted" and claimed that the abolishment of replays was "just a further example of how the EFL and its clubs are being marginalised in favour of others further up the pyramid and that only serves to threaten the future of the English game".
Ties that end in a draw will be decided by 30 minutes of extra-time before a penalty shootout if in the event of a stalemate.
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