For domestic football fans, there is something special about the third round of the FA Cup that even the final itself struggles to match. For one weekend, teams battling relegation can forget about trying to pick up three points, lower-division teams can welcome the top names to their smaller stadia - and the large payday that comes along with that - and if your team wins, you're suddenly only five games from Wembley.
So which games are the ones to anticipate gleefully on the first weekend of January 2018? The games which will see 32 clubs wave goodbye to their cup hopes, 32 more progress to the fourth round? And will any new unheralded names will be written in the pantheon of FA Cup legends along with Sutton United and Stevenage Town?
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Liverpool vs. Everton
Both of these teams have serious FA Cup pedigree, Liverpool having won it seven times and their local rivals having picked it up a further five. They even met in two finals in the 1980s, with Liverpool emerging triumphant on both occasions. This year, they meet in the undoubted big tie of the third round, and so half of the city the clubs share will see their Wembley dreams ended before the last of the mince pies are eaten (barring a replay, anyway). Sam Allardyce's men, resurgent since his arrival at Goodison, will be fancied by a few of the recommended bookmakers on Gamblingkingz to get something here, given the Reds' patchy recent form.
Newcastle vs. Luton
If you're looking for a Cup upset, you could do worse than cast an eye towards the North-East. Luton, riding high in League Two, will be making the long trip to Tyneside to take on a Magpies team in freefall. Nathan Jones's men will have nothing to lose by going for it at St James' Park, and against a Newcastle team that looks apprehensive in defence and uninspired going forward, they could deliver some more stardust in a season that looks set to end in promotion to League One.
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Fleetwood vs. Leicester
Fleetwood have been a league club only since 2012, when they won the Conference Premier thanks in no small part to the goals of a certain Jamie Vardy. That was to be his last season delighting the Cod Army with his pace and eye for goal; he joined Leicester at the end of the campaign, and has flourished with the former champions. Vardy will end this season preparing for the World Cup in Russia, but before that he must make a visit back to his old stamping ground. It's likely to be an emotional occasion, but can Fleetwood make it a frustrating one for a club legend?
Nottm Forest vs. Arsenal
Last season's cup winners start their defence of the trophy at the City Ground against a Forest team that have one statistical quirk against their name: 22 matches into the Championship season, Forest haven't drawn a single game. Arsene Wenger will be hoping that form stays with them into the Cup - he could do without a replay - but Mark Warburton's men need something to get excited about as yet another season without a credible promotion battle slips by. With Arsenal's recent cup form (three FA Cups in four years), this should be simple them, but who knows what might happen.
Whoever are the winners and losers from these games, these are just four of 32 matches that could define a season for better or worse. It should be an enthralling, and nerve-wracking, weekend.
