Preview: Mansfield Town vs Arsenal - prediction, team news, lineups

Another FA Cup tie with giant-killing potential takes place at Field Mill on Saturday lunchtime, when unfancied Mansfield Town welcome record winners Arsenal to their humble home.

The Stags stunned Premier League strugglers Burnley 2-1 to earn a date with the top-flight leaders, who made light work of Portsmouth and Wigan Athletic in their opening two showdowns.

Match preview

From winning FA Cups for fun to suffering a spate of early exits, Arsenal have belatedly banished a worrying curse in the prestigious competition, reaching the fifth round for the first time since their record-extending 14th triumph in 2019-20.

Portsmouth and Wigan were both no match for Mikel Arteta's men in rounds three and four, as Arsenal put four goals past the 2008 and 2013 winners of the competition, prolonging their hopes of an unprecedented quadruple of trophies in 2025-26.

Not since the 2012-13 season have Arsenal suffered a fifth-round exit in the FA Cup - Arteta was in the Gunners side that lost to Blackburn Rovers that year - and the visitors also have to go back to 1992 for the last time they were eliminated by a team competing in the third division or lower.

However, the FA Cup is arguably just a side quest for Arsenal while there are Premier League and Champions League trophies to be won, and the Gunners took a huge step towards claiming the former in Wednesday's 1-0 victory at Brighton & Hove Albion, on an evening when Manchester City fell short against Nottingham Forest.

Now sitting even prettier at the top of the Premier League table - seven points clear to be exact - Arsenal head to Field Mill on a 10-game unbeaten run in all tournaments and a sensational 12-match streak without defeat away from home, their longest such sequence since Arteta took charge.

The odds are heavily stacked against Mansfield, but that did not stop the Stags at Turf Moor, where Burnley's troubled 2025-26 season hit another low ebb thanks to a fabulous free kick in the fourth-round showdown.

Josh Laurent's opening goal would ostensibly set Scott Parker's men on their way to a comfortable success, but Rhys Oates's equalising header preceded a wonderful dead-ball winner from Louis Reed - not quite Declan Rice vs. Real Madrid, but extraordinary in its own right.

Mansfield's stunning success at Burnley saw the Stags end a 51-year absence from the fifth round of the FA Cup, and Saturday's fixture holds particularly special connotations for manager Nigel Clough; his father Brian Clough managed his final Nottingham Forest game against Arsenal in 1993, and the current Mansfield boss played in that 2-0 defeat.

Sentimentality aside, the hosts have failed to build on their unforgettable triumph at Turf Moor, going winless in each of their four League One games since that victory - taking just two points from 12 on offer - and slipping to 16th in the League One table as a result.

Clough's men also failed to score in three of those four fixtures - most recently playing out a goalless stalemate with Rotherham United on Tuesday night - but regardless of Saturday's result, fans should simply revel in a first meeting with Arsenal in 97 years; the Gunners won a 1929 FA Cup clash 2-0 in their most recent head-to-head.

Mansfield Town FA Cup form:

Mansfield Town form (all competitions):

Arsenal FA Cup form:

Arsenal form (all competitions):

Team News

Arsenal's only guaranteed absentee for Saturday at present is Mikel Merino - months away from a comeback from a foot operation - but William Saliba (ankle), Martin Odegaard (knee) and Ben White (unspecified) are all on the touch-and-go list.

Arteta's midfield predicament will also not be helped by the absence of Myles Lewis-Skelly, who has already been booked twice in this season's FA Cup and must therefore serve a one-match suspension this weekend.

With Lewis-Skelly banned, Merino absent and Declan Rice due a rest, the Bukayo Saka midfield experiment that worked wonders against Wigan could be an option for the visitors, but the Englishman will surely also be spared for Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.

As a result, Kai Havertz should occupy a deeper role, in support of Gabriel Jesus, who has registered a brilliant 20 goal involvements in 19 cup games against non-Premier League teams.

Meanwhile, Mansfield will have to host Arsenal without their captain Ryan Sweeney, who is out of contention with a hamstring problem, and a similar injury could keep fellow defender Baily Cargill out for the rest of the season.

The Stags were also dealt a fresh and untimely blow against Rotherham when defender Luke Bolton was withdrawn after just 13 minutes due to a calf injury, and his participation in Saturday's historic game is up in the air.

Mansfield Town possible starting lineup:

Roberts; Knoyle, Oshilaja, Blake-Tracy; Akins, Lewis, Reed, McLaughlin; Evans, Roberts; Oates

Arsenal possible starting lineup:

Kepa; Mosquera, Salmon, Gabriel, Calafiori; Eze, Norgaard, Havertz; Madueke, Jesus, Trossard

We say: Mansfield Town 0-3 Arsenal

Stags boss Clough has admitted that Mansfield's League One survival fight is taking precedence over Saturday's visit of Arsenal, whom he has warned could "demolish" his side if on song from the first whistle.

There should be no cricket score or similar embarrassment here, but Arteta's rotated side will almost certainly surge into the quarter-finals with minimal difficulty.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.