Arsenal and the six of their loanees still in the FA Cup at this stage learned their upcoming opponents in Monday night’s draw.
Arsenal enter the FA Cup in the third round every year, and they kick the competition off by hosting Newcastle United this time around. It’s yet another Premier League draw, after getting Liverpool, Leicester City, and Manchester City in the League Cup.
As things stand, Newcastle are above Arsenal in the Premier League table, albeit by only a point.
The Gunners also have a vested interest in six other FA Cup ties, with a number of their players still in the competition with their loan clubs.
Here’s a list of the relevant draws, with the loan player’s current club highlighted in bold.
- Nottingham Forest vs Cardiff City – Jordi Osei-Tutu
- Norwich City vs Coventry City – Ben Sheaf
- Blackpool vs West Brom – Daniel Ballard
- Southampton vs Shrewsbury Town – Dejan Iliev
- Blackburn Rovers vs Doncaster Rovers – Tyreece John-Jules
- Oldham Athletic vs Bournemouth – Harry Clarke
Those are some tough draws for the loanees. Blackpool and Shrewsbury Town are facing Premier League opposition, whilst Doncaster Rovers and Oldham Athletic are also facing opponents from divisions above them.
Coventry City play the Championship leaders, meaning Cardiff City are the only one of the six playing against a team below them in the table – and they’re away from home.
We’ll need to see an upset or two for any Arsenal loanees to make it to the fourth round. Good luck to all of them.