The Third Round ties of this year’s FA Cup take place over this weekend and, as always, the draw has produced a number of scintillating fixtures.

The draw produced four all-Premier League matches with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City travelling to West Ham, Champions Leicester taking on Everton, David Moyes’ Sunderland facing Burnley and the bottom two going head-to-head at the KC Stadium.

In the other notable fixtures, holders Manchester United face Reading, Premier League leaders Chelsea face Peterborough United and Stourbridge, the lowest-ranked team left in this season’s competition, will go up against Wycombe Wanderers after beating Northampton Town in their re-arranged second round tie.

In true spirit of the magic of the cup, there are bound to be some potential shock victories, with the most recent giant killings coming after Oxford United defeated Swansea last year and Bradford City came back from two goals down to beat Chelsea in 2015. With Round Three about to get underway, here are five fixtures that Shoot! think could potentially cause an FA Cup upset this weekend.  

Bolton v Crystal Palace

Phil Parkinson’s Bolton are impressing in League One this season and currently occupy one of the promotion places. In the first round of the cup, they defeated Grimsby Town 1-0 and dispatched League One leaders Sheffield United in the second.

Wanderers come into this fixture having won seven of their last ten games and are one of four teams (Bolton, Brighton, Chelsea and Tottenham) to concede 17 or fewer goals this season

New Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce hasn’t enjoyed quite the start that the ex-Bradford boss has and he will be hoping that his club can find some form against the League One club.

Big Sam has failed to secure a victory in his first three games in charge of The Eagles and in fact, Palace have only managed four wins in the league all season. They are now almost certain to be facing a relegation battle come the end of this campaign and defeat to lower league opposition would only add to this year’s humiliation.

Manchester United v Reading

 

Manchester United come into this game on the back of six straight wins and are currently sixth in the Premier League. They are likely to make changes for this game after a busy festive period that featured games against Middlesbrough, Sunderland and West Ham. Club captain Wayne Rooney should recover from injury in time to feature but Eric Bailly will be unavailable after travelling to the African Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast. United’s record at this stage of the competition is fierce, as they have progressed to the fourth round on every occasion since 1992, except when Leeds United beat them 1-0 in 2010.

Their opponents Reading have been rejuvenated under new boss and ex-Manchester United legend Jaap Stam, who made 79 appearances for the Red Devils and was part of the team that won the treble in 1999.  The Royals sit 3^rd in the Championship, have won 8 out of their last 10 games and were quarter-finalists in this competition last year. The Berkshire side will present Jose Mourinho’s side a real challenge in the early kick-off on Saturday.

Liverpool v Plymouth

 

Liverpool are currently second in the Premier League behind league leaders Chelsea and Jurgen Klopp’s side are presently showing their best form in recent years. They have only lost two games so far in 2016/17, are unbeaten in their last six games and have netted four or more goals on seven separate occasions this season.

The Reds come up against high-flying League Two promotion contenders Plymouth Argyle. The Devonshire side had to overcome both Mansfield and Newport County to set up a third-round clash at Anfield and this is only the second time since 2010 that The Pilgrims have reached this stage of the FA Cup. However, they may be in with a chance of causing an upset as the Merseyside team maintain a dreadful record in the FA Cup and have been knocked out by lower league opposition on eight separate occasions since the introduction of the Premier League in 1992.

Should Derek Adams’ men be able to carry their league form into this fixture, the five-time European champions could be knocked out of this competition early yet again.

 

Sutton v AFC Wimbledon

 

This will prove to be one of the most competitive fixtures in the round as National League side Sutton United host League One AFC Wimbledon in a local derby at Gander Green Lane. There is some history between the two clubs as in 2002, The U’s provided the opposition for the first ever game of AFC Wimbledon. Sutton are currently 14^th in the National League and in their previous two FA Cup fixtures, Paul Doswell’s men have beaten Dartford 6-3 and claimed a 2-1 victory against struggling League Two outfit Cheltenham Town.

The Dons meanwhile haven’t managed the best performances in the cup this season and were almost subject to an upset themselves. The League One outfit needed to put four late goals past Curzon Ashton of the National League North division and also needed a replay to get past struggling League One outfit Bury. Their league form hasn’t been much better either and Neil Ardley’s side currently sit mid-table. MK Dons will need to be at their best on Sutton’s artificial pitch to reach the next stage of this competition.