It’s the weekend of the third round of the FA Cup, one of the biggest events in the English football calendar, where minnows from lower leagues get the chance to take on some of the world’s biggest teams in real David and Goliath encounters.

While 14-time FA Cup winners Arsenal take on defending champions 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 visits National League strugglers Tamworth – nearly 100 seats separate the two clubs in the English football pyramid – at its 4,900-seat stadium called The Lamb.

The history of the FA Cup is full of shocks and so-called giant kills, including fourth division side Wrexham’s victory over reigning league champions Arsenal in 1992, third division side Leeds United’s victory over Premier League champions Manchester United in 2010 and sixth division side Maidstone United in the National League South and won away from Premier League participants Ipswich Town last season.

So who will cause the biggest shock this time and which storylines should we watch out for? ESPN has identified the connections with the best stories and the most shock value this weekend.

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Ashley Young won the FA Cup with Manchester United in 2016 and the Everton defender gets the chance to create an even more personal trophy memory by facing his teenage son at Goodison Park in the third round.

Tyler Young, 18, made his professional debut for League One side Peterborough in October and could provide a father-versus-son clash by being named in manager Darren Ferguson’s squad for the game. Ferguson is, of course, the son of former United manager Sir Alex, who signed Ashley Young to the Premier League club in 2011.

With Ashley at the bottom of the senior list at 39 and Tyler still an untested young player, it could be a draw if one or both start from the bench, but Ashley has already spoken of the possibility being a “dream come true”. .”

As Ashley posted on X:

WOW………dreams could come true 🙏🏾🤞🏾💙#FaCup #GoosebumpsMoment #YoungVsYoung

— Ashley Young (@youngy18) December 2, 2024

This FA Cup duel is about one thing: milk!

In 1989, Accrington Stanley, then a part-time non-league club after ceasing to be a Football League team in 1962, became the butt of a joke in a British television commercial produced by the Milk Marketing Board, featuring two young Liverpool fans argue over a sip of milk. A fan tells his friend that Ian Rush, Liverpool’s all-time top scorer, said: “If I don’t drink a lot of milk, when I grow up I’ll only be good enough to play for Accrington Stanley!”

His friend replies: “Accrington Stanley? Who are they?” prompting the first child to say “Exactly!” in response.

The advert has now become a cult classic and Saturday’s clash at Anfield will be only the second meeting between the two clubs and the first since the 1955/56 FA Cup. In the years since the advert, Accrington enjoyed a renaissance and returned to the Football League in 2009. The club has a long tradition of employing footballers from Liverpool who couldn’t make it at Liverpool or Everton.

If you want to know what it means for Accrington’s players to have the chance to play against Liverpool, check out Accrington striker Josh Woods’ reaction at the draw.

An underperforming club overshadowed by a powerful neighbor until a wealthy patron arrives, as opposed to an underperforming club overshadowed by a powerful neighbor until a group of wealthy patrons arrive who have made a name for themselves with the powerful neighbor . Welcome to Manchester City vs Salford City: it’s a clash between two clubs less than five miles apart, but with the added spice of Salford being part of the Class of 92, the famous group of young players who formed the backbone in 1999 from Manchester United formed treble winners.

Since purchasing Salford in 2014, when the club was seven tiers below the Premier League, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville have led the club into the EFL. They have been described as the “Man City of the lower leagues”, with Salford’s heavy spending (compared to the non-league league) being comparable to City’s transformation under Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan since he took over at the Etihad in 2008.

Salford’s astronomical rise has reached its limits in recent years, with the club still playing in the second division after five seasons, but this clash is all about the owners and the very distant prospect of a major upset against City, the could add to the successes they had as players for United.

This is a classic cup game, pitting a non-league minnow at home against one of the biggest names in English football. Tiny Tamworth faces Tottenham, whose record of eight FA Cup wins is bettered only by Arsenal and Manchester United. Tamworth’s stadium, The Lamb, has an artificial surface and visitor changing rooms that are too small to accommodate the entire Spurs squad and their staff.

Tamworth, the midfielder in the National League, England’s fifth tier, would pull off one of the biggest upsets in FA Cup history with victory over Spurs. Lincoln City were the last team from outside the EFL to win in the FA Cup against a Premier League team when they beat Burnley at Turf Moor in 2017, while Sutton United’s 2-1 home win over Coventry City in 1989 was the most recent not -EFL victory was. League win against a first division team.

But as one of the Premier League’s so-called ‘big six’, Spurs would be the biggest name to fail against a non-league club if they were on the wrong end of an upset. The club’s delight at the draw against Premier League opponents shows they are ready for the challenge.

Everyone loves an FA Cup fairy tale, but when two giants meet in the third round the tie will grab the headlines and Arsenal’s clash against United will see the cup’s most successful sides of all time go head-to-head a place in the fourth round.

The Gunners have not progressed beyond the fourth round since winning the cup for a record 14th time after beating Chelsea in 2020, while 13-time winners United won the cup for just the second time since 2004 after last season had defeated Manchester City at Wembley Stadium.

Sunday’s game will be the 15th FA Cup meeting between the two teams, with United having eight wins, Arsenal five and a draw. It is a cup rivalry that has produced some of the most memorable moments in FA Cup history, including Ryan Giggs’ solo winner in the 1999 semi-final replay, Alan Sunderland scoring the last-minute winner in the 1979 final and Arsenal winning their first ever penalty shootout in a final defeating United in 2005.

Sunday’s game must be decided on that day as there are no further cup replays this season, so expect more drama.

Less than 20 miles separate EFL Championship side Leeds United and League Two outfit Harrogate Town, but the pair will meet in a competitive game for the first time in Saturday’s clash at Elland Road.

And although the clubs are now just two divisions apart, it’s a real David and Goliath duel. When Leeds won the league title in 1992 – a year before the start of the Premier League – Harrogate was playing in the seventh tier of the Northern Premier League and had previously welcomed Leeds to its tiny 5,000-capacity Wetherby Road stadium for the official inauguration day of the club’s new floodlights Clubs.

Harrogate is a genteel spa town with old-fashioned tearooms and mineral springs, while Leeds is an industrial city of 500,000 people and a football club considered by many to be the biggest outside the Premier League. After gaining promotion to the EFL for the first time in 2020, Harrogate continue to outperform in League Two, but it would be a historic cup upset if they won.

Newcastle are arguably the most unsuccessful major club in the world, thanks to a trophy drought that dates back to 1969, when the Magpies won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup – the tournament that became the UEFA Cup and is now called the Europa League. The last of Newcastle’s six FA Cups came in 1955, allowing Eddie Howe’s team to end a 70-year wait to become cup winners that season.

Standing in their way is second division Bromley, who gained promotion to the EFL for the first time in their history last season by winning the National League play-off final.

Andy Woodman spent five years as the club’s goalkeeping coach at Newcastle between 2010 and 2015. However, he became famous for co-authoring a book with his 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 her different careers in the book.

This tie is a repeat of the 1959 FA Cup final, when Forest last won the cup thanks to a goal from Elton John’s cousin.

In 1959, Roy Dwight was the star of the family, and his younger cousin Reginald, just 12 years old, dreamed of becoming a pop star. After changing his name to Elton John, Reginald quickly eclipsed Roy with his musical achievements, although Roy retained the rare distinction of scoring a goal to help his team win the FA Cup final before he broke his leg in the same game.

In 2025, Forest are on the rise in the Premier League under Nuno Espirito Santo, one of the underdogs with hopes of winning the FA Cup this season.