The 2016 FA Cup third round draw is today - here's what you need to know!

The Mirror describes today as "perhaps the best day of the year for football fans." Although The Mirror may be overstating it just a tad, there is reason for excitement. With the FA Cup third round draw today, Arsenal begin their second consecutive FA Cup campaign as holders, having defeated Aston VIlla 4-0 in the 2015 final at Wembley Stadium back on May 30, with goals coming from Theo Walcott, Alexis, Per Mertesacker, and Olivier Giroud. Arsenal are now the most successful club in FA Cup history, having won the competition twelve times to Manchester United's eleven. Arsenal fans could only have dreamed of such a cracking final, and will surely be hoping for another chance to see the boys lift a trophy at Wembley after this campaign as well.

As you probably know, the FA Cup is a competition with a long and rich history. Clubs from the four top tiers of English soccer (the Premier League and the Football League, which consists of the Championship, League One, and League Two) automatically qualify. The competition begins in August, wherein teams from the ninth tier and below compete in the Extra Preliminary Round. Premier League teams enter in the third round draw, which is today.

The draw for every round sees each team assigned a number which is then placed inside a ball and chosen at random. This means that Arsenal, in ball number two (ball number one is occupied by Alphabet League winners AFC Bournemouth), could face a number of interesting opponents, including Manchester City, Manchester United, Leicester City, Tottenham, or even a plucky team in or near the relegation zone trying to make their season mean something. Like Chelsea. There are sixty-four balls in the pot and only twenty of them are Premier League teams, so statistically we're more likely to go up against someone more like QPR or Rotherham United than the likes of a Premier League club, but stranger things have happened. Also, one can never write off lower-tier opposition; they often come in with nothing to lose and give it their all.

The draw takes place today at 7pm GMT / 2pm ET / 11am PT, with the third round matches to be played the weekend of January 8-11, 2016. If for some reason you get the BBC, it will be shown live on BBC Two, although it's much more likely you'll just follow it on Twitter and in the comments here.

The full ball list is below, with some balls being reserved for the winners of matches not yet played. Here's to another defense!

1 AFC Bournemouth

2 Arsenal

3 Aston Villa

4 Birmingham City

5 Blackburn Rovers

6 Bolton Wanderers

7 Brentford

8 Brighton & Hove Albion

9 Bristol City

10 Burnley

11 Cardiff City

12 Charlton Athletic

13 Chelsea

14 Crystal Palace

15 Derby County

16 Everton

17 Fulham

18 Huddersfield Town

19 Hull City

20 Ipswich Town

21 Leeds United

22 Leicester City

23 Liverpool

24 Manchester City

25 Manchester United

26 Middlesbrough

27 Milton Keynes Dons

28 Newcastle United

29 Norwich City

30 Nottingham Forest

31 Preston North End

32 Queens Park Rangers

33 Reading

34 Rotherham United

35 Sheffield Wednesday

36 Southampton

37 Stoke City

38 Sunderland

39 Swansea City

40 Tottenham Hotspur

41 Watford

42 West Bromwich Albion

43 West Ham United

44 Wolverhampton Wanderers

45 Bradford City or Chesham United

46 Barnet or Newport County

47 Peterborough United or Luton Town

48 Portsmouth or Accrington Stanley

49 Stourbridge or Eastleigh

50 Northampton Town or Northwich Victoria

51 Exeter City or Port Vale

52 Cambridge United or Doncaster Rovers

53 Grimsby Town or Shrewsbury Town

54 Yeovil Town or Stevenage

55 Rochdale or Bury

56 Welling United or Carlisle United

57 Leyton Orient or Scunthorpe United

58 Millwall or Wycombe Wanderers

59 Colchester United or Altrincham

60 Chesterfield or Walsall

61 Sheffield United or Oldham Athletic

62 Salford City or Hartlepool United

63 Dagenham & Redbridge or Whitehawk

64 Oxford United or Forest Green Rovers

Olivier Giroud delighted for "very important" Joel Campbell

It was enough to have the man compensate for his errors by heading in a go-ahead goal in the early moments of the second half. It has happened already.

With fellow midfielder Francis Coquelin already out with his own knee problem, Wenger's options in the middle of the park are limited.

Flamini and Ramsey were paired together against Sunderland with the latter only just back from a hamstring injury. He blazed it over the bar, and there would have been fury if he had have scored as he looked to be offside. "There are a lot of young players waiting to come through, and we have a lot of quality training with us every day".

Campbell and Arsenal will return to the pitch on Wednesday for Champion's League action when they take on Greece's Olympiacos in the tournament's group stages. "It was frustrating but I'm encouraged by the players' performance".

Arsenal battled their way to a vital win against Sunderland at the Emirates on Saturday, after the visitors produced an impressive display which arguably merited a share of the point.

Ramsey knows he will not be awarded the same licence to get forward in such a game but believes the Gunners can get the required result.

Allardyce has now been in charge since October 9 and has led Sunderland to three wins in six league games - but felt this was the best he had seen in that time.

Allardyce, who will be without injured duo Sebastian Larsson and Jermain Defoe, said: "I've never won at Arsenal with any of my teams - drawn a few, but never won".

In front of him, we have Hector Bellerin, freshly recovered from his own injury as well as Per Mertesacker and Nacho Monreal, who have both managed to keep all their limbs intact for another week. We were edgy in the first half but in the second half we showed the mental strength, desire and more incisiveness even though it was not ideal.

Olivier Giroud (L) celebrates scoring his team's second goal during of the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium in London on December 5, 2015.

"We have to find a new balance, and that doesn't come immediately - you could see that in our fluency and continuity of passing".

Now we get to look to Europe, and a match that determines whether we get to go to the knockout stage or if we get relegated to UEFA's version of the NIT.

Arsenal defender Calum Chambers learning from Per Mertesacker as England starlet looks to develop his game

Calum Chambers says Germand World Cup winning centre back Per Metersacker is 'always there to help me out'.

The young defender arrived at Arsenal at the beginning of last season as a right back, but has been swiftly moved into the centre of defence.

And Chambers says he is learning from the more experienced defenders in the Arsenal squad, namely Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel.



'I speak to Per a lot,' Chambers told Arsenal Player. 'Per is always there to help me out.
'In training if I ever need someone or I'm a bit confused I ask Per, Koscielny or Gabriel what they would do.

'They always tell me what they would do and it is good to learn from as they are top-quality players.
Chambers moved to north London from Southampton in the summer of 2014, following in the footsteps of the likes of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.




And the 20-year-old claimed it was the reputation of Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger for developing young talent that saw him make the move.

'Wenger's presence was a massive factor,' he added.

'Theo and Alex came from Southampton as well and they've both come through to the first team.

'Wenger's renowned for bringing young players through and developing them. That was a big factor in why I chose to come here, to work with him. I haven't regretted it one bit.'

We gave a 'special performance' against Man Utd - Arsenal star Mertesacker

Per Mertesacker has described Arsenal's 3-0 victory over Manchester United last Sunday as a special performance from his side.

Arsenal headed into the clash against rivals United under a lot of pressure following their shock 3-2 loss against Olympiakos in the midweek Champions League clash.

To the surprise of many, the Gunners put in a fantastic display both in attack as well as at the back to claim a comfortable win, prompting Mertesacker to lavished praise on the performance from his teammates, labelling it as 'special'.

Speaking to Arsenal Player, Mertesacker said: "We always want to give the fans special moments. A special performance was absolutely required after what happened against Olympiacos.

"[We were told to] do what we are best at and to go at full intensity, especially at home. Have no regrets and to focus on our job which is to have good possession in the final third, and play with tempo and speed.

"It worked completely because we gave everything from the start without any hesitation and that is what makes people happy, seeing us play in that way.

"We need to focus on ourselves and manage to do that in the first 20 minutes like we did against Manchester United and defend the way did together as a unit. You could see all the doubts that came after the game against Olympiakos go if we remind ourselves that we are really good.

"We need to have a certain consistency [in the league] otherwise it is going to be difficult. But, if you get wins against the good teams then it will breed confidence for the whole team and we look forward to the next few Premier League games now."

Per Mertesacker: Wenger told us “to go at full intensity” against Man Utd

Per Mertesacker has revealed that Arsene Wenger instructed Arsenal to start at “full intensity” against Manchester United last weekend, as they scored all three goals in their 3-0 win in the opening 20 minutes, as reported by the club’s official website.

The Gunners blitzed United at the start of the game, racing into a two-goal lead after just seven minutes thanks to strikes from Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.

The Chile international doubled his tally after 20 minutes with a sweet strike, as the North Londoners bounced back brilliantly from their Champions League disappointment just days earlier.

Arsenal were beaten 3-2 at the Emirates by Olympiacos last Tuesday, leaving them bottom of their Champions League group with no points from two games. Wenger’s side will next face a double header against Bayern Munich.

The bleak atmosphere around North London was palpable following that game, but it all changed on Sunday.

Per Mertesacker has won 88% of his headed duels in the Premier League this season.

The Gunners looked lethargic against the Greek giants, but Mertesacker has revealed that Wenger made sure that wasn’t the case against Louis van Gaal’s men.

The 31-year-old said: “[We were told to] do what we are best at and to go at full intensity, especially at home. Have no regrets and to focus on our job which is to have good possession in the final third, and play with tempo and speed.

“It worked completely because we gave everything from the start without any hesitation and that is what makes people happy, seeing us play in that way.”

Mertesacker has had a stop-start season thus far, missing four of Arsenal’s opening eight Premier League games, including the 2-0 defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last month.

In his four appearances, the World Cup winner has won 85% of his average duels, averaging 10 defensive actions-per-game and has recorded an average pass accuracy of 89%.

Mertesacker’s defensive actions this term.

The victory over United lifted Arsenal into second place on 16 points, just two adrift of leaders Manchester City, who regained their lead at the top of the table thanks to their thumping 6-1 win over Newcastle last weekend.

Next up for the Gunners following the international break is an away clash against Watford next weekend.

Per Mertesacker reveals Arsene Wenger's plans behind huge Manchester United win

PER MERTESACKER has revealed Arsene Wenger told the Arsenal players to throw caution to the wind and go all out to beat Manchester United.

The Gunners recorded a convincing 3-0 victory over the Red Devils at the Emirates, scoring all their goals in the opening 20 minutes of the game.

It was their first Premier League win over United since May 2011, when they saw of Sir Alex Ferguson's team 1-0.

And Mertesacker believes it was just the response that was needed after a shocking home defeat to Olympiakos in the Champions League.

He said: "We always want to give the fans special moments.

"A special performance was absolutely required after what happened against Olympiakos. 

"We were told to do what we are best at and to go at full intensity, especially at home. Have no regrets and to focus on our job which is to have good possession in the final third, and play with tempo and speed.

"It worked completely because we gave everything from the start without any hesitation and that is what makes people happy, seeing us play in that way."

Arsenal now sit in second place following the win, leap-frogging rivals United on goal difference, just two points behind league leaders Manchester City.

Arsenal's Per Mertesacker reveals full importance of Manchester United hammering

PER MERTESACKER has explained just how important it was for Arsenal to beat Manchester United.

The Gunners romped past Louis van Gaal's Red army in a 3-0 demolition at the Emirates last weekend.

And the big German says that win was vital to give the fans something to cheer about and partly erase the memory of their Champions League disaster against Olympiakos the week before.

Mertesacker said: "We always want to give the fans special moments.

“We gave everything from the start without any hesitation ”

Per Mertesacker

"A special performance was absolutely required after what happened against Olympiacos [a 3-2 defeat in the Champions League].

"[We were told to] do what we are best at and to go at full intensity, especially at home.

"Have no regrets and to focus on our job which is to have good possession in the final third, and play with tempo and speed.

"It worked completely because we gave everything from the start without any hesitation and that is what makes people happy, seeing us play in that way.

"We need to have a certain consistency [in the league] otherwise it is going to be difficulty.

"It, if you get wins against the good teams then it will breed confidence for the whole team and we look forward to the next few Premier League games now.'