The magic of the FA Cup. The romance, the history, the giant-killings. 3rd round weekend. It was a stable of all our lives growing up. FA Cup matches are now shown live by free-to-air TV broadcasters BBC and ITV and with match highlights available free on BBC Sport with Match of the Day. BT Sport no longer hold FA Cup rights. Need an FA Cup VPN?
With Covid running rampant through the world of football, there is no other real talking point right now. Everything else seems to be overlooked. From the transfer window, to the League Cup semi-finals and now the third round of the FA Cup, everything else is taking a back seat to Covid conversations. It’s such a shame because it feels like it cheapens the League Cup even further, and also casts a shadow over what is truly one of the great occasions in the English football calendar. Third Round Saturday. It’s always been a fantastic occasion, with the teams from the Premier League and Championship entering the competition. Games galore, with potential giant killings littered through the slate of games.
If you grew up in the 80’s or 90’s, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Back before everybody became obsessed with the Champions League, the FA Cup was held in the highest regard. Winning the FA Cup was right up alongside winning the League title for many years. The prestige of the competition, the pomp and circumstance of the Final. We need to appreciate the Cups so much more, but especially this one.
Covid be damned, this weekend is Third Round Saturday and I plan to watch as much of it as humanly possible so with that in mind, here’s a preview of three games worth keeping an eye on this weekend.
Our FA CUP VPN articles are brought to you in partnership with EPL Index, and Dave Hendrick – host of the Two Footed Podcast, offering FREE podcasts to football fans.
⚽ Kidderminster Harriers vs Reading
📅 Saturday 8 January 2021
⏰ 1500 UK Kick-Off
🖥️ No UK TV Coverage – International Streaming Only
Kidderminster are the lowest ranked team still left in this years competition and their reward for surviving five rounds of the competition, including qualifying, is a home tie against Championship side Reading.
Kidderminster entered the competition in the second qualifying round and defeated Sporting Khalsa 3-1 before moving on to overcome Ware 3-0 in a replay following a 1-1 draw. In the fourth and final qualifying round they defeated Bedfont Sports 1-0 to earn their place in the first round proper. Once there, they upset Grimsby 1-0 to progress to a second round proper tie with FC Halifax Town. Halifax, like Grimsby, are a National League team. Going up against teams a division above them, Kidderminster have upped the game and they overcame Halifax 2-0 to book a potential date with one of the big boys.
Kidderminster are having a good season overall, currently sitting 5th in the National League North but with three games in hand. Winning all three would take them to the top of the division and give them automatic promotion to the National League for next season. If the season ended today, they would likely be the favourites going into the playoffs even though they’d have to play three rounds to gain promotion.
They likely were hoping for a Premier League team in the third round, but Reading is still a glamour tie for them and the Berkshire club will represent a massive step up in class. Reading are not having a particularly good season and could be ripe for a giant killing. Currently sitting 21st in the Championship, they would be in the bottom three if not for Derby’s points deduction. After finishing 7th last season, Reading likely had ambitions for promotion this season even after losing star midfield Michael Olise to Crystal Palace but things have not gone to plan at all. Four defeats and only one win their first six games saw them in the bottom three and despite climbing as high as 8th at one point, they have tumbled back down into the relegation mix having won only two of their last 11 league matches.
If the breaks go the Harriers way, they could find themselves in the hat for round four.
No matter where you are, you can use your Liberty Shield VPN to find a way to watch this match. Don’t have a Liberty Shield VPN? You’re missing out! Click right here to check out what we can offer you, and use the code EPL599 to get a £5.99 OFF a monthly subscription (making the cost only £1 for a month) at check-out.
⚽ Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal
📅 Sunday 9 January 2021
⏰ 1710 UK Kick-Off
🖥️ ITV Sport Free Live Streaming
This is one for those who appreciate history, as two footballing institutions meet on Sunday evening. Nottingham Forest have fallen on hard times but they are a two time European Cup winner while Arsenal, who have also experienced relative hard times, remain one of the three truly great clubs in English football.
Forest started this season in miserable form, with Chris Hughton a winless first seven games that included six defeats. It looked like the club Brian Clough took to the pinnacle of football might be facing a drop in the third tier of English football. It may be 23 years since Forest last graced the top flight but for any football purist it’s tough to see such a great club experience such tough times. The appointment of former Swansea City manager Steve Cooper saw a massive upturn in fortunes and until recent back to back defeats, Forest had climbed to 8th in the table and were looking like a potential playoff side. They’re currently only six points off Huddersfield who occupy the last playoff spot, so a good run of form through the second half of the season could see them in with a shout of promotion. That would represent a monumental turnaround from where they were in September, but needless to say their fans are just pleased to be clear of the dogfight at the bottom.
Arsenal sit fourth in the Premier League, largely off their ability to beat the dross of the Premier League. Seven of their 11 wins have come against teams who at the time were in the bottom six, while they hold a record of just four wins, two draws and seven defeats against the rest of the league. Their failure to beat good teams must be concerning to Mikel Arteta and it’s something they will have to address in the second half of the season. Their none bottom six wins came over Spurs, Aston Villa, Leicester and West Ham. Each of whom was dealing with serious issues at the time. For Spurs and Villa it was managers who needed to be, and have since been, replaced. While Leicester and West Ham had crippling injury issues with their defences. Arteta has already won the FA Cup at Arsenal, the club are the FA Cup specialists having won the competition a record 14 times and played in a record 21 finals. Arteta knows he doesn’t have a team capable of winning the Premier League, so he may well prioritise the FA Cup again this season.
This should be a good game, depending on how both teams stand with Covid absentees.
No matter where you are, you can use your Liberty Shield VPN to find a way to watch this match. Don’t have a Liberty Shield VPN? You’re missing out! Click right here to check out what we can offer you, and use the code EPL599 to get a £5.99 OFF a monthly subscription (making the cost only £1 for a month) at check-out.
⚽ Manchester United vs Aston Villa
📅 Monday 10 January 2021
⏰ 1955 UK Kick-Off
🖥️ BBC Sport Free Live Streaming
It seems like the more things change at Manchester United, the more they stay the same. Ole is gone, but the same problems that existed during his tenure remain while other new issues have arisen. Players aren’t happy with the demands being placed on them by Ralf Rangnick, they don’t have respect for the coaching staff, and the football is still of a vomit inducing nature.
United lost to Wolves in the Premier League last Monday, a game that saw Phil Jones return from two years on the sidelines after injuries and Covid took their toll on United’s central defenders. With Eric Bailly out, and Harry Maguire a doubt, United will be sweating on the fitness of Victor Lindelof or be forced to play Jones again. Jones acquitted himself well against Wolves, but playing twice in a week after such a long time out would be a risk giving his long history of injuries which dates back a decade. With question marks over the impact of Cristiano Ronaldo on United’s exceptional young attackers like Sancho, Greenwood and Rashford, it will be interesting to see if Ralf Rangnick leaves the Portuguese star out of the team and tries some thing different. It has been suggested that a front four of Sancho and Bruno Fernandes, behind Rashford and Greenwood might actually go a long way towards solving United’s attacking issues.
Steven Gerrard enjoyed nothing more as a player than beating Manchester United, and if he was able to do it at Old Trafford then all the better. On Monday he’ll get his first chance to do it as a manager. Villa do have some injury problems, as well as a suspension for John McGinn, but they will come into this game confident that they can pick up a win. Gerrard will likely go as close to full strength as he can because he will want to have a good run in the Cup in his first season in charge to try and build a winning culture at the club. Youngsters like Carney Chukwuemaka might feature but the midfielder has been banging on the door for a while now anyway so it may well be that Gerrard sees him as part of the first team picture anyway.
A Monday night game, under the lights at Old Trafford, is always a worthwhile affair and this one promises to be an interesting battle.
No matter where you are, you can use your Liberty Shield VPN to find a way to watch this match. Don’t have a Liberty Shield VPN? You’re missing out! Click right here to check out what we can offer you, and use the code EPL599 to get a £5.99 OFF a monthly subscription (making the cost only £1 for a month) at check-out.
How to watch every FA Cup match from anywhere…
FA Cup matches for the 2020/21 season will be streamed live between BBC and ITV, as well as their respective apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Smart TV, Now TV, FireTV etc.
But these streaming services are not available to everyone, for example when you load BBC iPlayer or ITV Hub in the USA, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Australia, Dubai, Canada etc. you will get an error message.
BBC iplayer only works in the uk. Sorry, it’s due to rights issues.
This is basically because their streaming services are geoblocked based on the IP address being used to access it. You must be a UK domestic web user to access BT Sport, Sky Sports, Amazon Prime UK, ITV and BBC Sport live tv streaming.
- Get a UK IP address for Premier League VPN
- If you want to watch on your Windows PC, Mac, FireTV, iPhone, iPad or Android then you can get a UK Proxy or VPN Apps from Liberty Shield, FREE for 48 hours and then from only £8.99 per month..
- Prefer to watch on supported media streaming devices like Now TV, Smart TVs, Apple TV, Xbox, PS4, Roku etc? You’ll need a UK configured VPN Router setup as British, available from only £9.99 with Worldwide Shipping available.
How can I watch ITV Sport FA Cup VPN 21/22 matches live?
The FA Cup will be broadcast entirely on free-to-air television in 2022 after ITV announced a four-year broadcast deal with the Football Association. ITV has revealed it will screen 20 live matches per season in the world’s oldest football competition from 2021/22 to 2024/25, sharing coverage with the BBC from the opening round through to the final.
ITV will have the first and fourth choices of the second and fourth rounds and the quarter-finals as well as second and third selections for the first, third and fifth rounds. Matches will be screen on terrestrial TV as well as ITV.com and ITV Hub apps on various devices.
How can I watch BBC Sport FA Cup VPN 21/22 matches live?
With Premier League Pay-Per-View now scrapped, the BBC gets their live action once again through their FA Cup rights. They also offer free FA Cup and Premier League VPN 20/21 highlights, with Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2, available live when screened on the BBC Sport website, and also on catchup with BBC iPlayer.
Furthermore; ITV Sport and BBC Sport aren’t the only geographically-censored streaming services a VPN or Proxy will allow you to access. Other UK services like Sky Sports, Now TV, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, BT Sport, All 4 and BritBox are available. Plus with the option to switch to our USA service whenever you like, you can access Hulu, HBO GO, Netflix and Pandora. Essentially you can access international content from virtually anywhere!
