Unai Emery will get his first experience of the FA Cup when he brings his side to the Fylde coast for one of Saturday’s late kick-offs
Arsenal fans will hope the Gunners are starting their march to Wembley on Saturday, when they travel to Blackpool for their FA Cup third-round tie.
Along with the Europa League, which the north London club have reached the last 32, and will play BATE Borisov, the FA Cup presents Arsenal with a real chance of silverware this season.
As for the hosts Blackpool , they will be hoping to enact one of the third round’s big upsets in 2019.
A win for the Tangerines would undoubtedly be one of the biggest cup scalping of the weekend, and would present a disastrous start for Unai Emery in football’s oldest competition.
| Game | Blackpool v Arsenal |
| Date | Saturday, January 5 |
| Time | 5:30pm GMT / 12:30pm ET |
In the United States (US), the game can be streamed on ESPN+.
| US TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| N/A | ESPN+ |
In the United Kingdom (UK), the game can be watched live on BT Sport 2 and streamed on BT Sport Live.
| UK TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| BT Sport 2 | BT Sport Live |
| Position | Blackpool squad |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Howard, Boney, Sims |
| Defenders | Daniels, Wilmer-Anderton, O’Connor, Heneghan, Nottingham, McLoughlin, Bola, Bunney |
| Midfielders | Spearing, Dodoo, Pritchard, O’Sullivan, Taylor, Feeney, Guy |
| Forwards | Delfouneso, Gnanduillet, Davies, Roach, Shaw |
Blackpool starting XI: Howard, Nottingham, Daniels, O’Connor, Bola, Spearing, Guy, Taylor, Feeney, Delfouneso, Gnanduillet.
| Position | Arsenal squad |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Cech, Leno, Martinez |
| Defenders | Sokratis, Koscielny, Lichtsteiner, Jenkinson, Kolasinac, Medley, Pleguezuelo |
| Midfielders | Elneny, Ramsey, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Smith-Rowe, Willock |
| Forwards | Iwobi, Saka, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Nketiah |
Laurent Koscielny was a late scratch from the starting XI, with Carl Jenkinson taking the Frenchman’s place.
Arsenal starting XI: Cech; Lichtsteiner, Jenkinson, Sokratis, Kolasinac; Elneny, Willock; Maitland-Niles; Ramsey, Iwobi; Nketiah.
Usurpingly, the visitors are huge favourites for this one, and are priced at just 1/4 with bet365 . A massive cup upset can be backed at 15/1, while an unlikely draw is 5/1.
Click here to see all of bet 365’s offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.
The FA Cup represents a real opportunity for Emery to win a trophy in his first year at the Emirates. The Spaniard has won a cup competition in each of his last five seasons, while managing Sevilla and PSG respectively.
Emery also knows Blackpool well given that Arsenal hosted the League One side in League Cup easier this campaign, when the Gunners emerged as narrow 2-1 winners .
“When we played here against them in the Carabao Cup, we knew this history of this club, said Emery. “They aren’t in the best moment for that. But here against us at the Emirates they played very competitively and gave us a lot of difficult moments.
“I have a big respect for each team and I know they are one team now not in the best moment but the respect is there because it’s a very big opportunity for them to play against us.”
Last season Arsenal failed to make it past the third round for the first time in 22 years, when they were beaten 4-2 by Nottingham Forest .
The London outfit will be hoping to continue their impressive record in the FA Cup – no side have won the old trophy more often than the Gunners.
“The first idea when I arrived here was to play for all the titles,” said Emery. “Arsenal is in the history the best team in this competition, played 20 finals, won 13 times. This respect for our supporters and the competition I took quickly. I want to do something important and this is a big opportunity for us.”
Arsenal have not lost to Blackpool in their last nine attempts (winning seven and drawing two). In fact, the last victory for the Seasiders in this fixture came in the third round of the FA Cup in 1970.
However, McPhillips will have drawn inspiration from Blackpool’s dogged performance at the Emirates in October and will be hoping the home advantage gives them a slight edge on this occasion.
“It’s brilliant for all of us who are involved,” said the Tangerines boss.
“We take some confidence from the previous game because we gave them a game at their place and we limited them to two shots on target, although they scored both, but we are playing Arsenal so we’ll need a bit of luck
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“We’ll need to play really well and maybe they’ll need to be off it a little bit. I think if you’ve ever got a chance against Arsenal, we’ve got more of a chance at Bloomfield. We’ve already played them away so it’s great that we’ve got them at home.”
Blackpool last qualified for the FA Cup fourth round in 2017, when they eliminated Barnsley, who were two divisions higher than the Seasiders at the time.
However, they were on the wrong side of a cup upset last season when non-league side Boreham Wood knocked them out in the first round .
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