The date and time for Arsenal’s FA Cup showdown with holders Manchester United has been officially confirmed as the Gunners face a massive week of fixtures in January.
A heavyweight clash between the old rivals was the pick of the ties from the third round draw made at Old Trafford earlier this week just two days ahead of their first Premier League meeting of the season at the Emirates Stadium which the resurgent Gunners won 2-0 thanks to goals from defenders Jurrien Timber and William Saliba that handed new boss Ruben Amorim the first defeat of his early United tenure.
The high-profile FA Cup reunion was a certainty to be selected for live television coverage and that has now been confirmed, with the game set to be shown on BBC One with a 3pm GMT kick-off time on Sunday, January 12.
Arsenal face a huge week of tough home matches in the middle of the month, with United’s latest visit coming just four days before they host Tottenham in the north London derby.
Set-piece dominance: Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-0 in the Premier League earlier this week
AP
Mikel Arteta’s title challengers also entertain Aston Villa on the following Saturday ahead of their penultimate fixture in the new ‘league phase’ of the Champions League, which is at home to Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb on January 22.
Arsenal - who begin the New Year with top-flight trips to Brentford and Brighton - close out January away at Wolves and Spanish team Girona before another sizable clash with Manchester City kicks off February.
Spurs have also been picked for TV in the third round as they travel to the 4,065-capacity Lamb Ground in Staffordshire for a 12:30pm GMT kick-off on Sunday, January 11 hoping to avoid a monumental upset against National League side Tamworth, who stunned two League One teams in Huddersfield and Burton to advance. That match will be on ITV1.
The only other non-League side left in this season’s FA Cup - Tamworth’s National League rivals Dagenham & Redbridge - will be live on ITV4 on Monday, January 13 as they try to topple Championship opponents Millwall away at The Den in a 7:30pm GMT kick-off following back-to-back upsets of Crewe and AFC Wimbledon.
Manchester City hosting local fourth-tier side Salford - a club co-owned by Manchester United’s ‘Class of 92’ members Gary Neville, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt - will be broadcast at 5:45pm GMT on BBC One on Saturday, January 11, while another Premier League vs League Two contest will be on at 12:15pm on ITV1 as Accrington Stanley face a daunting trip to Anfield to battle Liverpool.
Live television coverage of the FA Cup third round begins on the night of Friday, January 10, when ITV1 will screen the all-Premier League affair between Aston Villa and West Ham at 8pm GMT.
Chelsea hosting League Two Morecambe and Bromley travelling to Newcastle in their first-ever FA Cup third round match are among the ties not selected for live television coverage in the UK, along with a Yorkshire derby between Leeds and Harrogate and the potential for Ashley Young to face his teenage son Tyler as Everton meet Peterborough.