Arsenal host Liverpool and Newcastle face Sunderland in FA Cup third round

  • Gunners won past three FA Cup ties with Premier League rivals
  • Spurs host Burnley, Everton visit Palace, Brentford face Wolves

Arsenal will host Liverpool in a blockbuster third-round FA Cup tie next month. The Premier League giants are meeting for the first time in the competition since Arsenal won a fifth-round tie 2-1 in 2014.

The Gunners have come out on top in their past three FA Cup clashes, with Liverpool’s last victory back in the final of 2001.

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FA Cup roundup: Maidstone stun Barrow to book place in third round

  • Bivish Gurung’s 74th-minute winner secures upset
  • National League Barnet earn replay against Newport

National League South side Maidstone stunned League Two high-flyers Barrow by coming from behind to reach the FA Cup third round for the first time since their reformation in 1992.

Bivish Gurung’s 74th-minute winner secured a 2-1 upset for the sixth-tier hosts at Gallagher Stadium. Barrow, who sit third in League Two, 46 places higher in the league pyramid, led through Ben Whitfield before Sam Corne levelled.

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Horsham’s lucky losers aim to seize extra FA Cup chance and make history

Club is on the up after tough times and heads to Sutton with the backing of Barnsley fans after shock reinstatement

“We played Swansea twice in the winter of 2007 and at the end of that season Horsham had to vacate the ground and the bulldozers moved in,” says Kevin Borrett. Now chairman of Horsham after stepping in to help save the Sussex club a year after they had reached the second round of the FA Cup for the first time, Borrett will feel particular pride when Dominic Di Paola’s team face Sutton United on Saturday. The Hornets were reinstated when Barnsley were booted out of the competition for fielding an ineligible player and find themselves with an unexpected opportunity to reach the promised land of the Cup’s third round.

“It would be a huge achievement for the club and probably a part of our history that we wouldn’t see repeated for some time,” says Borrett, who was informed that Horsham were back in the Cup 10 minutes before they faced Margate in a league match but didn’t tell Di Paola until after the game. “The Barnsley chairman had called me the day before to let me know that they were likely to be disqualified and it was confirmed by a phone call from the FA 10 minutes before we were due to kick off. I didn’t want to distract him so I didn’t say anything at first but after the game I phoned Dom and gave him the news that we wouldn’t be playing Hastings on 2 December because we were back in the FA Cup.”

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Barnsley kicked out of FA Cup for ineligible player as Horsham reinstated

  • Isthmian Premier side will now travel to Sutton in round two
  • ‘This mistake falls way below the high standards we set’

Barnsley have been kicked out of this season’s FA Cup for fielding an ineligible player in their first-round replay win at Horsham, who have been reinstated to the competition.

The Tykes, held 3-3 in a dramatic first game at Oakwell, won the replay 3-0 against the Isthmian League Premier side, but were found in breach of FA Cup Rule 103 and will now be replaced by the non-leaguers for the round two trip to Sutton United.

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