FA Cup third round: Chelsea v Morecambe, Crawley v Leeds and more – live!

Goodness me, Morecambe almost take the lead at Stamford Bridge! They build nicely down the right and Phillips either crosses or sees Kepa anticipating the same, drilling low and hard; the keeperhas to spin and scrabble back to haul the ball off his line.

The aforementioned Friend heads away but only as far as Bernardo, and though the ball bounces up to almost shoulder-height, he gets over it with his leg horizontal to clatter a brilliant finish into the top corner. Welcome to the game, Blues.

At Chelsea, Emerson has swiped a shot wide. It’s worth mentioning that Kai Havertz is part of a midfield three today, and I’m not sure that where he’ll want to be but excuse me while I interrupt myself!

Crawley’s first dangerous set-piece has been and gone, Casilla pawing away a free-kick.

Manchester City are warming up, Birmingham’s George Friend doing well to snuff out Kevin de Bruyne.

I’ve not managed to achieve coverage of this game, but a goal is a goal.

Email! “People keep saying that domestic cups are rubbish,” emails Kári Tulinius, “but I don’t know a single football fan who doesn’t love them. Their one-and-out format means every game is do or die. The equivalent competition in the US, the NCAA basketball tournament, is probably the only sporting contest universally beloved in America. If football authorities and marketers had any sense, a big ask I know, they’ll turn domestic cups into their own March Madness.”

So are you saying the leagues take a break, and every round is played within a month? I think March Madness is a little different because of the strange mania surrounding student sport so I’m not sure a similar arrangement would work in this context, but agree that the format is brilliant.

Leeds’ Kalvin Phillips appears to be playing in a back three.

At City, there’s a minute’s silence for the great Colin Bell.

Jermaine Jenas – sorry, JJ, not sure how he got that nickname – notes that Leeds are vulnerable at set-pieces. Can Crawley exploit that?

The players in our various matches are with us. Absolutely all of them look cold.

John Yems, the Crawley manager, is asked how big this game is.

You’ll be relieved to learn that we’ve settled on JB and JJ (Jenas is the other).

BBC have two pundits called Jermaine on Crawley-Leeds; hilarity ensues. Here’s the Beckford variety writing his name over the 2009-10 third round.

Elsewhere, Pep Guardiola isn’t allowing his team’s recently rediscovered form to sneak away. He makes just four changes from the side that won at Old Trafford in midweek – Mendy, Walker, Bernardo Silva and Jesus come in, with Zinchenko, Stones, Gundogan and Sterling dropping out. Birmingham do likewise, with Aitor Karanaka bringing in Andres Prieto, Maxime Colin, Jon-Miquel Toran and Scott Hogan.

Frank Lampard, meanwhile, makes six changes to Franklampardschelsea. I’m looking forward to seeing how Billy Gilmour gets on – he was great against Liverpool in last season’s competition – with Hakim Ziyech, the man who makes it work also starting and Timo Werner continuing his search for the lost goal. It’s also worth noting that Callum Hudson-Odoi is in – he’s been pushing for a regular spot and a decent showing here might earn one for him.

So let’s take a closer look at these teams. Crawley make just one change, Nick Tsaroulla replacing Archie Davies, and have Mark Wright – no, not that one – of Only Way is Essex fame – on the bench, along with his brother Josh. Leeds, meanwhile, make seven changes from their kicking at Spurs, Struik, Alioski, Phillips and Rodrigo the survivors.

I doubt I’m the only nerd reminded of this FA Cup classic by the name of the Portsmouth keeper.

Bristol City: Bentley, Mariappa, Kalas, Mawson, Rowe, Semenyo, Nagy, Bakinson, Adelakun, Martin, Diedhiou. Subs: O’Leary, Vyner, Moore, Towler, Edwards O, Massengo, Pearson, Wells, Bell.

Portsmouth: MacGillivray, Johnson, Raggett, Micolaisen, Brown, Naylor, Cannon, Harness, Williams, Jacobs, Marquis. Subs: Turnbull, Bolton, Mnoga, Downing, Whatmough, Close, Morris, Harrison, Hiwula.

Yes, that’s right – Cheltenham have a Bowry and Mansfield have a Bowery, presumably in homage to the iconic Manhattan hotel. In FA Cup parlance, I believe that’s “ironic”, on which point, did you know that Trevor Brooking didn’t get many with ’is ’ead but scored the winner in the 1980 final with a header? Trusay.

Cheltenham Town: Griffiths, Raglan, Tozer, Boyle, Blair, Hussey, Thomas, Chapman, May, Lloyd, Williams. Subs: Harris, Long, Bowry, Clements, Addai, Freestone, Azaz, Campbell.

Mansfield Town: Stech, O’Keefe, Rawson, Sweeney, Benning, Lapslie, Maris, Charsley, McLaughlin, Reid, Bowery. Subs: Stone, Menayese, Cook, O’Driscoll, Clarke J.

Barnsley: Collins, Brittain, Sollbauer, Helik, Andersen, Styles, Mowatt, Kane, Frieset, Chaplin, Woodrow. Subs: Walton, Williams J, Oduor, Palmer, Sibbick, Schmidt, Adeboyejo, Thomas.

Tranmere Rovers: Davies, O’Connor, Monthe, Ray, Ridehalgh, Spearing, Lewis, Khan, Woolery, Ferrier, Vaughan. Subs: Murphy, Corey, Blackett-Taylor, Ellis, Morris, Nugent, Banks, Burton, Hayde.

Man City: Steffen, Cancelo, Dias, Walker, Mendy, Rodrigo, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Foden, Bernardo, Jesus. Subs: Ederson, Stones, Gundogan, Fernandinho, Zinchenko, Delap, Harwood-Bellis, Nmecha, Mbete.

Birmingham City: Prieto, Colin, Clarke-Salter, San José, Friend, Sunjic, Kieftenbeld, Sanchez, Toral, Leko, Hogan. Subs: Etheridge, Pedersen, Dean, Dacres-Cogley, Roberts, Clayton, McGree, Bela, Jutkiewicz.

Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Rudiger, Emerson, Mount, Gilmour, Havertz, Ziyech, Werner, Hudson-Odoi. Subs: Caballero, Jorginho, Abraham, Pulisic, Tomori, Kovacic, Giroud, Chilwell, Anjorin.

Morecambe: Halstead, Hendrie, Knight-Percvial, Davis, Cooney, Songo’o, Wildig, Phillips, Slew, Stockton, Mendes Gomes. Subs: Turner, Mellor, Diagourage, Kenyon, Lyons, O’Sullivan, Leitch-Smith, McAlinden, Gibson.

For the eagle-eyed: yes, Hessenthaler is related to Hessenthaler. Playing today is Jake, the son of Andy. Here he is scoring for Watford against Swindon in 1995.

Crawley Town: Morris, Francomb, Craig, Tunnicliffe, Dallison, Tsaroulla, Powell, Hessenthaler, Matthews, Nadesan, Nichols. Subs: Nelson, McNerney, Doherty, M Wright, Davies, J Wright, Frost, Galach, Watters.

Leeds United: Casilla, Davis, Struijk, Cooper, Alioski, Phillips, Shackleton, Hernandez, Poveda, Costa, Rodrigo. Subs: Caprile, Huggins, Jenkins, Casey, Harrison, Raphinha, Greenwood.

This coverage is meant to be unbiased and impartial so I apologise for the slight to journalistic integrity, but: I love the FA Cup. Whatever people try to tell us, football remains a simple game and it remains a simple competition which has spent 139 years giving people some of the greatest moments, days and times of their lives. Bill Shankly, Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger all loved it, and if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for the rest of us.

But like all of us, it relies on its

drawers
draws for support, and this year’s third-round version has not been kind. We’ve seen decent results for Chorley against Derby, Blackpool against West Brom and Doncaster at Blackburn, along with close shaves for Burnley, Sheffield United and Arsenal, but we’ve not yet had anything incendiary and if we’re being real, that’s unlikely to happen this afternoon either.

You never know though, and even if we see nothing great we’re seeing something, as well as investing in the potential greatness of the coming rounds which we can’t fully appreciate unless we were there from the start. So let’s dig in to:

Barnsley v Tranmere Rovers
Bristol City v Portsmouth
Chelsea v Morecambe
Cheltenham Town v Mansfield Town
Crawley Town v Leeds United
Manchester City v Birmingham City

Kick-offs – or should that be kicks-off: 1.30pm GMT