A Complete A to Z of the 2014/15 FA Cup
It's time for the FA Cup third round, when England's big boys go head-to-head with the minnows in the oldest domestic football competition in the world.
The tournament may have had its detractors over recent years, but it is still incredibly watchable and can often throw up storylines that make or break clubs' seasons.
Here's a complete A to Z of this season's competition, starting with one of the standout matches of the third round.
A Is for AFC Wimbledon
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Twelve-and-a-half years after they formed the club following the decision to move the original Wimbledon to Milton Keynes (and later rename them Milton Keynes Dons), AFC Wimbledon supporters have been rewarded for their incredible loyalty with a repeat of their old club's finest hour.
Wimbledon's 1988 FA Cup final victory over Liverpool remains one of the greatest Wembley upsets of all time. The current Liverpool side will head to Kingsmeadow to take on the League Two outfit on January 5 for what is surely the most romantic tie of the round.
B Is for Beast
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That Wimbledon side will almost certainly include Adebayo Akinfenwa, the self-styled "Beast" who is certain to give Martin Skrtel and Co. a tough night in south-west London.
Akinfenwa is well known for being the strongest player in various editions of the FIFA video games, including the latest version, as reported by the Daily Mirror.
Whatever happens against Liverpool, you suspect that the 16-stone forward will be heavily involved.
C Is for Coincidence
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The teams that ended last season's FA Cup, Arsenal and Hull City were also the first two sides out of the hat for this season's third round in the sort of coincidence this competition seems to love throwing at us.
The fact the draw itself was held in Hull only added the shock value. The fixture brings together the two sides that contested a classic final, in which Hull went 2-0 up early on, but Arsenal hit back. Aaron Ramsey's extra-time winner earned the Gunners their first trophy in nine years.
D Is for Dover Athletic
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Conference side Dover Athletic will host Crystal Palace at their Crabble Athletic Ground in another one of the ties of the round, with the minnows earning a crack at the Premier League club thanks to 1-0 wins over League Two clubs Morecambe and Cheltenham Town in rounds one and two, respectively.
The Whites, who currently sit mid-table in the Conference under manager Chris Kinnear, will bid to become the first non-league side to beat Premier League opposition since Luton Town beat Norwich City at Carrow Road two years ago.
E Is for Evoking Memories
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The Premier League's Sunderland will face the Championship's Leeds United at the Stadium of Light in the third round, a tie which evokes memories of the famous 1973 final, when the Mackems—who were then the team in the lower division—shocked Leeds to win 1-0 at Wembley and become the first second-tier team to win the cup in 42 years.
Ian Porterfield grabbed Sunderland's winner, but the match is better remembered for goalkeeper Jim Montgomery's remarkable double save, something that Costel Pantilimon will have to live up to this time around.
F Is for 4th Tier
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Four clubs from England's fourth tier have made it through to the third round, with two of them facing each other when Cambridge United play Luton Town at the Abbey Stadium.
Wimbledon's meeting with Liverpool is the most high-profile of the fixtures for the quartet, but perhaps the best opportunity for a shock comes at Prenton Park, where League Two strugglers Tranmere Rovers host Swansea City in a match that seems to have all the ingredients for a classic FA Cup encounter.
Garry Monk and his players won't be relishing the trip.
G Is for Gateshead
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Three non-league clubs have been handed ties with Premier League opposition, with Conference club Gateshead facing the intriguing task of going to the Hawthorns to face Tony Pulis' West Bromwich Albion.
The Tynesiders beat minnows Norton United and Warrington Town to get this far, so they'll face a huge step up in class against the Baggies. At least in the former Everton, Sunderland and Wales midfielder John Oster they'll be able to call upon a player who has experienced top-flight football.
H Is for Home of English Football
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It may have been seen more as an NFL venue in recent months, but both of the semi-finals and final of this season's FA Cup will again be held at Wembley Stadium, the venue for so many of the classic finals of the past.
There remains a huge debate over whether the matches in the last four should be held at the venue, but with the FA having so many bills to pay, you can't expect them to be moved from the 90,000 venue any time soon.
I Is for Iron
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League One side Scunthorpe United—nicknamed "The Iron"—will play MK Dons or Chesterfield in the third round after coming through a record penalty shootout at non-league Worcester City in the second round.
A total of 32 spot kicks were taken at Aggborough as Scunthorpe showed enough iron will to eventually come through the longest shootout in FA Cup history, 14-13, the sort of thing that might make you think your name is on the trophy.
J Is for Jarrett Rivers
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One of the highlights of Round 2 saw seventh-tier Blyth Spartans win, 2-1, at League Two club Hartlepool United, thanks to a terrific last-minute winner from 21-year-old midfielder Jarrett Rivers, who works as a newsagent when he's not playing football.
Northern Premier League side Blyth are the lowest-ranked club left in the competition, and their reward for the late drama is a home tie with Birmingham City of the Championship. The north-east club will be bidding to emulate the heroics of 1977/78, when they made it all the way to the fifth round.
K Is for Keeping It Local
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Championship rivals Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic will meet in the third round in a local derby between two clubs just eight miles apart.
Wigan's recent FA Cup heroics are well known, of course, but the team that won the competition in 2013 and reached the semi-finals last season has long been broken up, and Neil Lennon's Bolton will fancy their chances after a recent 3-1 win over Latics in the league.
L Is for Luton Town
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Luton Town is a name that has become synonymous with FA Cup drama in recent years, as the Hatters have taken Liverpool to a replay, beaten the likes of Queens Park Rangers and Nottingham Forest and seen off then-Premier League Norwich City at Carrow Road.
This time around, and now in League Two, they face a meeting with fellow fourth-tier side Cambridge United, a match which gives both sides a great chance to reach the fourth round and set up a meeting with a big fish.
M Is for Margreitter
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Chesterfield's 1-0 second-round win at MK Dons had to be scrubbed from the FA Cup records after it was found that the Spireites fielded an ineligible player—the on-loan Georg Margreitter—in the victory at Stadium:MK.
The FA have ordered the clubs to replay the tie on January 2, with the winner going to Scunthorpe in the third round on January 6.
N Is for Newcastle United
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One of the chief grievances of Newcastle United fans about the reign Alan Pardew was that the club didn't take the FA Cup seriously enough, with the Magpies losing at home to Cardiff City in the third round last season.
This time around, with Pardew gone and the club looking to go in a new direction, will they prioritise the competition? A third-round tie at Leicester City is a tricky start.
O Is for Opportunity Knocks
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Some managers will see this year's FA Cup as an opportunity to win their first trophy at their current club, thereby creating something of a legacy and giving them some success to build on.
Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers and Tottenham Hotspur's Mauricio Pochettino would certainly fall into that category, and it will be interesting to see just how seriously both men take the tournament, with the Reds travelling to Wimbledon and Spurs going to Burnley.
P Is for 'Pink' Ball
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Once again, this season's FA Cup features a ball which, while officially described as "mango" by the website footyheadlines.com, looks pink when viewed from afar.
Other than the colour, this season's ball is exactly the same as the ones used in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A, but you can still expect people to complain about it regardless.
Q Is for Queens Park Rangers
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QPR's recent FA Cup record is, quite frankly, awful, and they haven't made it past the fourth round since 1997, a sorry run that has included defeats to the likes of Vauxhall Motors, Grimsby Town, Luton, Sheffield United and MK Dons.
They'll face the Blades again this time around, and they could be susceptible to a shock defeat if Harry Redknapp opts to focus on the battle for Premier League survival.
R Is for Rotation
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Regardless of how much they want to win this competition, we are bound to see the bigger clubs use the FA Cup as a chance to rest some players and give minutes to those they don't often use.
For Chelsea, that means that we can expect to see the likes of Mohamed Salah and Loic Remy play in their third-round clash at home to Watford, but given that these players would be starters in most other sides, the Blues wouldn't be too severely weakened.
S Is for Southport
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Southport are another non-league team with a shot at one of the FA Cup's established names, as they take on Championship promotion contenders Derby County at the Rams' iPro Stadium.
The Sandgrounders, who are battling to stay up in the Conference, beat League Two side Dagenham and Redbridge in the first round before seeing off divisional rivals Eastleigh last time out.
T Is for 3 Goals
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Seven players currently top this season's FA Cup goalscoring charts with three goals following the qualifying rounds and the first two rounds proper.
Of course, that could change over the third-round weekend, but for now, Wrexham's Andy Bishop (pictured), Rochdale's Matt Done, Hartlepool's Jonathan Franks, Worcester's Sean Geddes, Cheltenham's Byron Harrison, Gateshead's Rob Ramshaw and Barnsley's Sam Winnall can enjoy their time in the spotlight.
U Is for United
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Just in case somebody asks you this question in the future, there are no fewer than nine Uniteds taking part in the FA Cup third round. Can you name them all? Well, we'll do it for you.
Colchester, Rotherham, Newcastle, Cambridge, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, West Ham and Scunthorpe will all go into the third round and the competition with varying degrees of expectation, but they all start on a level footing this weekend.
V Is for Van Gaal
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One of those Uniteds have a manager who will be making his FA Cup debut when his team go to League One Yeovil Town.
Louis van Gaal has been handed a classic David vs. Goliath tie for his first FA Cup experience, and after the embarrassment of the 4-0 defeat to MK Dons in the Dutchman's first League Cup match, he'll be eager to avoid any more upsets.
Indeed, with Chelsea and Manchester City threatening to run away with the Premier League, this has to be seen as Van Gaal's best chance of a trophy in his first campaign at Old Trafford.
W Is for Wrexham
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The non-league club handed the toughest task in the third round has to be Wrexham of the Conference, who go to the Britannia Stadium to take on Premier League side Stoke City.
Stoke boss Mark Hughes was actually born in Wrexham, so he'll be aware of the club's rich giant-killing history, which includes wins over Arsenal and West Ham and runs to the quarter-finals on three separate occasions.
X Is for X-Ray
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Will anyone match the heroic act of FA Cup bravery from former Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann in this season's competition? Well, no.
Trautmann played on in City's 3-1 FA Cup final victory over Birmingham City at Wembley in 1956 despite sustaining a serious injury that x-rays later determined to be a broken neck. City marked the remarkable act of bravery from one of their greatest players after Trautmann's death in 2013.
Y Is for Yeovil Town
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League One Yeovil Town have earned their crack at producing what would be one of the all-time great FA Cup upsets when they take on Manchester United in the third round.
The underdogs will seek to topple Louis van Gaal's Premier League superstars on Sunday at Huish Park, where they will at the very least hope to avoid a result like the defeat the club suffered the last time they met United in 1949, when the Red Devils won 8-0 at their temporary post-war home of Maine Road.
Z Is for Z Cars
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By the time Everton's pre-match Z Cars anthem is heard before their third-round match against West Ham at Goodison Park, the round will almost be over, with the fixture one of the last two to get underway on the evening of January 6.
The Blues will be looking at the competition as a perfect chance to save their season following disappointing league form, and they will seek to gain inspiration from their anthem, which has been heard at Goodison since the 1963-64 season and been a welcome addition for those compiling A-Z lists since.
