It’s FA Cup third round weekend, one of the biggest occasions in the English football calendar, when lower-league minnows get the chance to take on some of the biggest teams in the world in true David vs. Goliath encounters.
While 14-time FA Cup winners Arsenal take on holders and 13-time winners Manchester United in the heavyweight clash of the round at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea all face teams from EFL League Two. Oh, and Tottenham visit National League strugglers Tamworth — almost 100 places separate the two clubs in the English football pyramid — at their 4,900-capacity ground called The Lamb.
FA Cup history is littered with shocks and so-called giant-killings, including fourth-tier Wrexham beating reigning league champions Arsenal in 1992, third-tier Leeds United winning at Premier League champions Manchester United in 2010 and sixth-tier Maidstone United, of the National League South, winning away at Premier League-bound Ipswich Town last season.
So who will pull off the biggest shock this time, and what are the storylines to look out for? ESPN has identified the ties with the best stories and biggest shock value this weekend.
And while the clubs are now just two divisions apart, it is a true David vs. Goliath tie. When Leeds won the league title in 1992 — the year before the start of the Premier League — Harrogate were playing in the seventh-tier Northern Premier League and had previously welcomed Leeds to their tiny 5,000-capacity Wetherby Road stadium to officially turn on the club’s new floodlights.
Harrogate is a genteel spa town, home of old-fashioned tea rooms and mineral springs, while Leeds is an industrial powerhouse city of 500,000 people, with a football club regarded by many as the biggest outside the Premier League. Having been promoted to the EFL for the first time in 2020, Harrogate continue to punch above their weight in League Two, but it would be a historic cup upset if they were to win.
Newcastle are arguably the most unsuccessful big club anywhere in the world due to a trophy drought dating back to 1969, when the Magpies won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup — the tournament that became the UEFA Cup and is now the Europa League. The last of Newcastle’s six FA Cups came in 1955, so Eddie Howe’s team could end a 70-year wait to become cup winners this season.
Standing in their way are League Two side Bromley, who were promoted to the EFL for the first time in their history by winning the National League Play-Off final last season.
Andy Woodman spent five years at Newcastle as the club’s goalkeeper coach between 2010 and 2015, but his claim to fame is co-authoring a book with best friend Gareth Southgate in 2004 called “Woody & Nord: A Football Friendship,” which won best autobiography at the British Book Awards for chronicling their relationship and contrasting careers in the game.
This tie is a repeat of the 1959 FA Cup Final, when Forest last lifted the cup courtesy of a goal scored by Elton John’s cousin.
Back in 1959, Roy Dwight was the star of the family, with younger cousin Reginald just a 12-year-old with dreams of making it as a pop star. After changing his name to Elton John, Reginald quickly put Roy in the shade with his musical achievements, even though Roy retained the rare distinction of scoring a goal to help his team win an FA Cup final before breaking his leg in the same game.
Fast forward to 2025 and Forest are flying high in the Premier League under Nuno Espirito Santo and one of the outsiders with hopes of winning the FA Cup this season.
