Arsenal draw Southampton or Norwich City away in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup

After a comeback victory in the third round of the FA Cup against Preston North End, Arsenal qualified for the next round of the competition. The draw occurred earlier this afternoon and Arsenal arguably received the toughest draw out of all Premier League sides still active in the competition: away to either Southampton or Norwich City.

A Southampton victory would be the third matchup with the Saints during this current campaign, the first at St. Mary’s Stadium. The first match in the Premier League ended in a 2-1 victory for Arsenal. The second match at the Emirates ended in Southampton’s favor in a 2-0 victory in the EFL Cup. A Norwich City victory would mean the first matchup between the Gunners and the Canaries since the Premier League last season when Arsenal won at the Emirates and took a point at Carrow Road. Norwich is currently ninth in the League Championship.

For Premier League sides, the fourth round draw (with replays) yielded:

• Tottenham Hotspur v. Wycombe Wanderers
• Derby County v. Leicester City
• Plymouth Argyle/Liverpool v. Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Chelsea v. Brentford
• Manchester United v. Wigan Athletic
• Millwall v. Watford
• Burnley/Sunderland v. Fleetwood/Bristol City
• Fulham v. Hull City
• Middlesbrough v. Accrington Stanley
• Crystal Palace/Bolton Wanderers v. Manchester City

Only Manchester City has a significant chance of facing another side from the Premier League since Crystal Palace will likely win at Selhurst Park. Every other Premier League side will face a squad from the Championship or a lower division. Tottenham and Middlesbrough received two of the easiest draws in the Premier League since both face sides from League Two.

The Fourth Round of the FA Cup will be played between January 27 and January 30. If the Gunners are victorious in the fourth round they would advance to the fifth round proper which is played on February 18th. If the go out of the FA Cup, Arsenal would not have a competitive match to play between the Champions League clash away to Bayern on the fifteenth of February and the Premier League match against Liverpool on March 4th.