Manchester United will face Steven Gerrard s Aston Villa in the third round of the FA Cup and Leicester City start the defence of the trophy against Watford.

United boss interim boss Ralf Rangnick s first FA Cup tie will be an all-Premier League encounter with Villa at Old Trafford, where former Liverpool captain Gerrard can expect a hostile reception.

Holders Leicester will again come up against their former manager Claudio Ranieri, who masterminded the club s fairytale Premier League triumph in 2016, at the King Power Stadium.

The Foxes lifted the trophy for the first time in their history in May after beating Chelsea 1-0 in the final at Wembley.

Here is your official third round draw! [1/4]

— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup)

Ch…

Leicester City will hope to make amends for a rare blot on their title-winning campaign when they host Arsenal in their first home match of the 2016-17 Premier League campaign.

Claudio Ranieri s side stunned the world as they romped to the title by 10 points in May, and their home form played a crucial role in their success.

Twelve wins and six draws came their way as they turned the King Power Stadium into a fortress, the only team to take maximum points there being Arsenal the Gunners in scintillating form in September as an Alexis Sanchez hat-trick inspired a 5-2 win.

Leicester will get an immediate opportunity for revenge at the start of the new campaign with Arsene Wenger s side visiting on the second weekend of the season.

While Leicester enjoy plen…

Adelaide United came from behind twice to draw 3-3 with Jeju United in a thrilling encounter on Wednesday that saw the A-League side pick up their first points of this season s AFC Champions League.

The Australian champions kept their slim hopes of progression from Group H alive courtesy of Mark Ochieng s equaliser five minutes from time, which ensured they stay within three points of South Korea s Jeju, who are second on four points.

That goal came just 75 seconds after Kwon Soon-Hyung s effort for the visitors finally looked to have a settled a match that saw all six goals scored in the second half
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Baba Diawara s 51st-minute penalty had put Adelaide in front, but a low effort from substitute Frederic Mendy and a stunner from Marcelo Toscano turned …

South Africa lost their Africa Cup of Nations opener to Ivory Coast and forward Sibusiso Vilakazi knows they must improve for a crucial clash with Namibia.

Bafana Bafana were outplayed despite the narrow nature of their 1-0 defeat to a Jonathan Kodjia goal, leaving the side pointless as they take on opponents who themselves were beaten 1-0 by Morocco.

And Vilakazi acknowledged South Africa have already reached  must-win status at such an early stage of this year s tournament.

With Namibia now, we need to get a response in terms of winning, the Mamelodi Sundowns attacker told TimesLIVE. We have to win at all costs.

We got to this AFCON and it s a must-win [game] for us it doesn t matter how. This is a point where we need to react, we need to win ga…

Renato Sanches marked his return to the Bayern Munich fold with a superb goal against his former club as Niko Kovac s side ran out 2-0 winners over Benfica in their Champions League Group E encounter.

Having endured a torrid loan spell at Swansea City last term, Sanches was handed his first Bayern start since May 2017 at Estadio da Luz, and after playing a part in Robert Lewandowski s opener the youngster duly repaid Kovac s faith in the 54th minute when he got on the end of James Rodriguez s delicate cross.

However, things could have been different if not for Manuel Neuer, who kept Benfica at bay with a string of impressive saves either side of the interval.

Serge Gnabry had a goal disallowed for offside as Bayern looked to extend their lead, but that deci…

Erik ten Hag is doing an unbelievable job at Manchester United but the club must continue to strengthen, says their former midfielder Quinton Fortune.

The ex-Ajax head coach replaced Ralf Rangnick in the Old Trafford dugout following an inconsistent 2021-22 season, which also saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sacked as United finished 13 points off the top four.

The Red Devils lost their first two Premier League games under Ten Hag, but have gone on to register 26 points after the first 14 outings five more than they managed at the same stage of the previous campaign.

Fortune spent seven years at United under Alex Ferguson between 1999 and 2006, winning the Premier League title in the 2002-03 season.

He is pleased with the strides made by his former club, who he h…

According to Paul Joyce of , Real Sociedad have put pressure on Martin Zubimendi by informing him the release clause in his contract has to be paid if he is to leave the club.

Zubimendi, previously linked with Barcelona and Arsenal, has reportedly been a preferred transfer target for Liverpool this summer as the Merseysiders seek to add a reliable No. 6 to their ranks. At one point he was believed to have accepted the idea of moving to Anfield, but Sociedad have since been trying very hard to convince him to stay. He has been offered a new contract, and he s apparently considering his next step very carefully.

It appears the 25-year-old Euro 2024 winner is still leaning towards the move, though, which would be an obvious reason for his current club to tak…

Barcelona s interest in Lionel Messi back to the club is obvious , president Joan Laporta has said.

Barca brought Messi to Europe as a youngster, and he entrenched himself as a Blaugrana legend becoming the club s all-time leading scorer and winning seven Ballons d Or while at Camp Nou.

Messi also helped Barca win 10 LaLiga titles and four Champions League trophies during his time in Catalonia, in what was one of the club s most successful periods.

However, financial troubles meant the LaLiga giants did not renew Messi s contract when it expired in 2021, and Paris Saint-Germain swooped to bring him to the French capital on a two-year deal.

The 35-year-old lifted the World Cup with Argentina for the first time last weekend, and his impressive displays in Q…

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Watford will welcome Liverpool to the Vicarage Road on Saturday evening for a game that will be a part of the 28th matchday in the Premier League this season, played between two teams with very different goals towards the end of the campaign.

Watford

It wasn t that long ago when Watford were rightly considered among the toughest teams to beat (outside the top six) in the English top flight. Well organized and very physical in their approach, nobody liked to think about the prospect of playing against them. Well, maybe it wasn t that long ago, but right now it sure feels like it was.

Having taken the team to the 2019 FA Cup final, Javi Gracia sat in the dugout when the season began, only to receive his marching orders a month la…

Aaron Ramsdale would consider a move to Newcastle, but the Magpies are reluctant to meet Arsenal s £50m valuation of the 25-year-old.

(Source: talkSPORT)

— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive)

Players to watch

Douglas Luiz: Aston Villa have put a £110million price tag on the midfielder to fend off interest, according to Football Transfers with Arsenal leading the pursuers.

Samuel Iling-Junior: Tottenham and Newcastle are interested in the English winger, 20, with Juventus making him available, according to Italian publication Tuttomercatoweb.

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