FA Cup 3rd round draw: Arsenal face Sunderland while Tottenham host Leicester City

(Image credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

published 8 December 2015

Arsenal begin the defence of their FA Cup crown by hosting Sunderland at the Emirates next month. The Gunners, who have won the competition for the past two seasons, play the Black Cats in the third round on the weekend of 8, 9 and 10 January.

Arsenal's 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa in May's FA Cup final was a record twelfth victory for the north London club (one more than Manchester United), and victory this season would equal the achievement of Blackburn Rovers, the only club to have won three consecutive titles.

They achieved their hat-trick between 1884 and 1886, although the tournament wasn't quite what it is today with Rovers beating the likes of Clitheroe, Darwen Old Wanderers and Oswaldtwistle Rovers en route to the final.

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There are five all-Premier League ties, with the pick of the bunch the visit of leaders Leicester (who have never won the cup despite appearing in four finals) to Tottenham, while Liverpool face a possible banana skin with a trip to League Two outfit Exeter.

Liverpool's Merseyside neighbours, Everton, will host the winner of the second round replay between part-timers Whitehawk and Dagenham & Redbridge of League Two.

Brighton-based Whitehawk play in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, and manager Steve King told the BBC he'd been hoping for Liverpool: "I wanted the Reds but I got the Blues. But we ain't got the blues.''

Before the thrill of a trip to Goodison Park, however, Whitehawk have to win their replay. "It's a tough game to get through against Dagenham & Redbridge," admitted King, "because both teams will want to play that massive tie."

The draw in full

1 Watford v Newcastle United

2 West Bromwich Albion v Bristol City

3 West Ham United v Wolverhampton Wanderers

4 Salford City or Hartlepool United v Derby County

5 Exeter City v Liverpool

6 Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester City

7 Colchester United v Charlton Athletic

8 Peterborough United v Preston North End

9 Northampton Town v MK Dons

10 Arsenal v Sunderland

11 Newport County v Blackburn Rovers