FA Cup Third-Round Draw: Tough away ties fro trio of top clubs

All roads lead to Wembley

The FA Cup third-round draw has been made today and it's not very good news for three of the Premier League's major clubs as they were handed tricky away ties...

Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea were handed tough FA Cup third-round ties when their names were pulled out to play Swansea, West Ham and Southampton respectively away from home.

Michael Laudrup's Swansea will be confident of causing another minor upset after beating the Gunners 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, a result that heaped more pressure on under-fire boss Arsene Wenger.

Manchester United also had a tough examination against their third-round opponents when defeating the Hammers by just a single goal at Old Trafford last week, despite opening the scoring after just 31 seconds.

West Ham are a strong outfit at Upton Park, losing just one of their eight league fixtures played there this season with their most impressive result coming just recently when they defeated out-of-sorts Chelsea 3-1.

Chelsea themselves face a tough test at newly-prmoted Southampton, whilst in the final all-Premier League clash QPR welcome West Brom to Loftus Road.

Non-league outfits Lincoln and Mansfield will replay for the right to face Liverpool on home soil, whilst either Hastings or Harrogate face Championship high-flyers Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.

The draw has also brought together some decent Championship clubs at home to Premier League outfits including Crystal Palace v Stoke, Brighton v Newcastle, and Bolton v Sunderland.

The games will take place over the weekend commencing Friday January 4.

Latest Betfair FA Cup Winner odds: 6.05/1 Man City, 7.26/1 Man Utd, 8.88/1 Chelsea, 11.010/1 Arsenal, 12.5n/a Tottenham, 13.012/1 Liverpool, 14.013/1 Everton, 28.027/1 and upwards the remainder.

FA Cup Third Round Draw in full

Crystal Palace v Stoke
Brighton v Newcastle
Tottenham v Coventry City
Wigan v Bournemouth
Fulham v Blackpool
Aston Villa v Ipswich
Charlton v Huddersfield
Barrow or Macclesfield v Cardiff
Barnsley v Burnley
Manchester City v Watford
Swansea v Arsenal
Leicester v Burton
Millwall v Preston
Cheltenham or Hereford v Everton
Derby v Tranmere
Crawley v Reading
Aldershot v Rotherham or Notts County
Middlesbrough v Harrogate or Hastings
Accrington Stanley or Oxford v Sheffield United
Southampton v Chelsea
QPR v West Brom
Peterborough v Norwich
Lincoln or Mansfield v Liverpool
Bolton v Sunderland
Nottingham Forest v Oldham
West Ham v Manchester United
Hull v Leyton Orient
Blackburn v Bristol City
Leeds v Birmingham
Bury or Southend v Bradford or Brentford
Luton v Wolves
Sheffield Wednesday v MK Dons