Arsenal's FA Cup 3rd Round Match Date Set

The FA Cup 3rd round draw was held over the weekend, oddly, during Sunday morning's games - as we all know by now, the draw bucket vomited forth PBFC as Arsenal's opponent in that third round.  Which is nice, because I had no idea the FA Cup was open to rec league sides!

I love the FA Cup unreservedly - it's pretty much my favorite tournament, in fact, and it always has been.  You can have your Champions Leagues with your big shiny trophies and piles of money, or your Europa Leagues with your pocket full of loose change and your participation medals; I'll take a straight knockout tournament any day of the week, particularly one with the history and the heritage of the FA Cup.

Anyway, in a bit of news that is less "news" than "fact confirmation", the aforementioned third round Cup tie now has a date and a time.  It will be at the Emirates on Saturday, January 4, and it's the cherry on top of the crap sundae that is the "festive period" in English soccer - that 4 Jan fixture will be Arsenal's fifth in 11 days.  They have matches on Dec 23rd, 26th, and 29th, on New Years' Day and now on the 4th.

I promise this article won't be a rant about the insanity of not only not having a winter break in England, but in fact doing the exact opposite, and cramming as many matches in as is humanly possible; this is about the FA Cup!  Which is now on Jan 4 at 9.15 AM Pacific/12.15 PM Eastern/7.15PM BT.